MİMARLIK AGENDA

The Fall of “Looting and Dictatorship” Policies in the Light of Gezi / Eyüp Muhcu

The author says that with the impact of Gezi, democratic public will has said ‘no’ to “looting and dictatorship” policies on June 7, 2015 elections, blooming an opportunity to restore social life and peace back in the country. He further states that the opposition parties, attaining sixty percent of votes in sum, have only managed to achieve success and earn social trust as a result of their efforts in trying to understand and internalise Gezi.

AGENDA

Designing Health and Safety / Ş. Emre Ulukan

As opposed to general belief, occupational health and safety (OHS) only includes security measures against risks working architects may face at the office environment and at construction site, especially during their visit to construction site.  OHS is an issue that needs to be evaluated starting from the feasibility stage till the end of all processes and most importantly it should be addressed in a systematic manner throughout the design stage.  The author refers to the importance of the issue by giving examples.

EVENT

ICOMOS Celebrating its 50th Anniversary

Founded in Warsaw in 1965, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) celebrates its 50th anniversary with several events. The author while listing the events organised in order to promote the foundation of ICOMOS Turkey, discuss current developments in the field of conservation and increase awareness, presents general information on ICOMOS.

AWARD

2015 Mies van der Rohe Award goes to Szczecin Philharmonic Hall

The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award is granted every two years to acknowledge and reward quality architectural production in Europe, was given to Barozzi / Veiga for their Szczecin Philharmonic Hall, and Luz House project from ARQUITECTURA-G was presented with the Emerging Architect Special Mention. The awarded projects, selected among 420 candidate projects, were announced at a ceremony held on 8 May 2015, at the Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Mies van der Rohe.

COMMEMORATION POGRAMME: EGLI

Engineer Ragıp Devres Villa, Ernst A. Egli, 1932/33 / Serhat Başdoğan

Ernst Arnold Egli, who is also known as “The Architect of the Early Republic”, is one of the major architects contributing to the planning of Ankara, starting from 1920s, and also one of the most significant actors of modernisation project of the Republican period. Presenting clear examples of a modern search, breaking away from Seljuk and Ottoman architecture in the buildings, which hold his signature, Egli, besides many public buildings, also got commissioned for designing various housing projects for private use.  The author reveals the archival documents of Ragıp Devres Villa, located in Bebek Bay, İstanbul and provides a summary of a period through this small-scale project.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Aesthetic Sensitivity, Ethical Responsibility / Semra Aydınlı

Intangible values like aesthetics and ethics, are shaped in close reference to the architectural education, with a directing role aiming to raise awareness and the codes that are achieved after this education. The author by stating today’s cities as evolving around complexity and contradiction, says that our perception of aesthetic sensitivity and ethical responsibility is increasingly getting blunt due to elements that we come across in our urban environment.

FROM RURAL / CITY

Traces of Erythrai on Ildırı / Süreyya Topaloğlu

Located at old İzmir-Çeşme highway, after passing from other villages, the ruins of the Church of St. Matrona within the acropolis strike the eye, as they mark the entrance to Ildırı settlement. With a history, known to date back to the Early Bronze Age, the settlement was called Erythrai, one of the twelve Ionian cities mentioned by Herodotus in ancient times and called Lithr in the Byzantium period. Ildırı, which managed to preserve its genuine qualities such as its multi-layered structure and intrinsic pace of life, despite being close to touristic locations, should be preserved without any intervention that aims the exposition of a signal layer.

COMPETITION

“The New Erbaa” Çamlık Social Habitat

Organised by the Municipality of Erbaa, the competition “The New Erbaa” Çamlık Social Habitat aims to achieve projects, which can be a catalyst for city-citizen interaction and communication, for the design of the entire area of Çamlık Woods, as one of the most significant public spaces of Erbaa. With this aim, the competition tried to select the most economic, functional, innovative solutions, which promote cultural, artistic, scientific and environmental values, among various alternatives. In the competition 67 projects were evaluated and 3 awards, 6 equivalent honourable mention awards were given.

Çanakkale War Research Centre

Announced by the Governorship of Çanakkale the competition aimed for achieving projects that display economic, original and qualified architectural approach having distinguished functional aspects and present innovative solutions, respectful to nature, to sustainable and contemporary environment. The national Çanakkale War Research Centre Design Competition, asked for the designing of the building together with its environment, which is overspread to an area of approximately 36.000m2, located in a central position within the city. The jury evaluated 102 projects, submitted to the competition and distributed 3 awards and 5 honourable mention awards.  

CULTURAL INDUSTRY

Compelling Urban Art in Ankara / Duygu Cihanger

Public art can only be claimed publicly when the citizens apart from the city administration intervene to the process of its formation. The author while discussing these art and cultural works, which in the case of Ankara can ever be produced independent from political ideologies and soon turn into commodity, highlights the AsiKeçi Art and Design days and “Ankara’s Deceased Nature” event series organised by Ankara Art Initiative by the end of May, as successful steps for making art once again public.  

ARCHITECTURAL CRITICISM

The ‘Silent’ State of Architecture: ITU Central Classroom Building/ İdil Erkol

Central Classroom Building, presenting its own scale inside ITU Ayazağa Campus, which is located in the rapidly growing and congesting urban fabric, was awarded in the “Building Category” of 2014 National Architecture Awards. The author, who analyses the spatial organisation of the building, which was designed by Hasan Şener and Ahsen Özsoy, indicates that the building apart from serving classroom spaces also acts as a gathering area, complementing the necessary social facilities of the campus and thus creating a centre of attraction.  

READERS’ CORNER

Sinan from Fiction to Conceit / Cem Günen

The author commenting on the article “Mimar Sinan in-between Reality and Myth: A Re-reading Experiment on Sinan” published in the May-June 2014 issue of the magazine, explains the fictive character of Sinan in his theatre texts. 

URBAN DESIGN

Socio-Economic and Spatial Outcomes of Pedestrianisation of Denizli Gazi Mustafa Kemal Paşa Boulevard/ Dilek Darby, İrem Selçuk

The changes in the urban functions and the increase in car traffic in cities with rapid growth, cause the city centres to turn into stations for stopping on the way, rather than being places for pacing around and visiting. Another change affecting this condition is the automobile-oriented transportation strategies that disregard the priorities of pedestrian as the major concern of transportation in cities. The authors while suggesting the need for a holistic approach towards pedestrianisation projects, mostly developed to overcome these problems, evaluate on a particular project applied on the historical axis of Denizli.  

BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES AND MATERIALS

A Comparison on Timber Roof Systems as Applied in Turkey and in Europe / Cüneyt Kurtay, Okay Esen

Changing the traditional building technologies and keeping up with the new technologies is a process that requires time. To accelerate this process the regulations should be updated as a result of required research. The authors analysing different timber roof systems, state that the systems applied in Europe use 30% less material than the systems applied in Turkey, saving up to 55% in total. The analysis points out the need for contemporary revisions on the regulations in Turkey.

URBAN HISTORY

A Creek Forgotten Under the City: Boyacı Creek / H. İbrahim Alpaslan

The author tracing the narratives of travellers, archival documents, engravings and maps presenting the urban morphology of İzmir, starting from the 17th century, follows the life cycle of Boyacı Creek, which acted as a threshold in the 18th century, turning to be part of the urban fabric in 19th and almost completely perished with the beginning of the 20th century.

PUBLIC SPACE

“Urban Interior”, As a Spatial and Social Encounter between the Interior and Exterior / Özge Cordan, Şule Çolak

“Urban Interior”, a new term being discussed by researchers and academics looking for new solutions for urban space, corresponds to a definition of a threshold between the public space of the city and private area of the interior space. The authors, focussing  on the space of interaction produced at the interface of  concepts like interior/ exterior, individual/ social, private/public, formal/informal, temporary/permanent, physical/perceptual, address its different applications in Turkey and from all around the world.

ARCHITECTURE AND MEDIA

Digital Media as a New Tool in the Market of Global Architecture / Bilgen Boyacıoğlu Dündar, Özlem Erdoğdu Erkarslan, Tülay Erenoğlu

The methods of access to digital knowledge in the light of developing information and communication technologies redefine the relations between architecture and media. The authors while pointing out the increasing number of architectural portals, state that this medium triggers a will to trail the image-based contemporary trends rather than their contents, causing a decrease in discursive and critical evaluations of architectural products or any such demand.  They also state that a reproduction medium as such, strengthens the assumption that architecture is solely about the processes of form production.

CONTACT

Killing Few Birds with One Stone: Atelier -3 and Afterthoughts on Earthquake / Elifnaz Durusoy

Once again the earthquake that hit Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, with magnitude- 7.8, brought out the issue of post-earthquake strategies and housing problems into the agenda. The proposal suggested by Taiwanese architect Hsieh Ying-chun, the founder of Atelier -3 architecture office, is based on a long-lasting and ecological architectural proposition as a completely new approach, developed for the wrecked areas. The project, initiating from the idea of “DIY” (Do It Yourself), proposes the re-evaluation of building techniques and materials, which were widely used by past cultures to reduce construction cost up to 25-30% with comparison to a new structure, after earthquakes.