“Architecture and Spectacle” which is a panel organized parallel to the “The FACTORY” exhibition curated by  Nil Aynalı and Ali Pasaoglu, will be held in National Reassurance Arts Gallery Conference Hall, on 24^th of February 2012, at 17:30.

In the panel  a reading of architecture medium in Turkey will made through the concept of  “Society of the Spectacle” of Guy Debord, by the speakers Uğur Tanyeli, Bülent Tanju and Emre Arolat.

Istanbul, Turkey

Today when we step on the Kagıthane Cendere Valley we feel that we are in a decomposed place. This is one of the warehouses that the city has forgotten. The green hills and the factory chimneys that look into the valley, the high rise apartments, the new formation that consists of squatter houses, and the intertwined and at the same time disconnected conjunction of a viaduct and the brook beneath it that dissappears towards the northern forests greet us as we arrive to the place.

In midst of this scenery the traces of a new budding condition can be seen. The high rise blocks that have been surrounded by walls stand facing the texture that has come flowing from the Buyukdere Avenue. Ahead new office buildings are trying to settle into the ground. It appears that the wave of transformation is almost about to reach here. The condition of this valley 100 year ago consists of a memory that has been left in ancient engravings… The valley that has been used as an agricultural area in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, fills up with industrial areas in 1950s with the beginning of the Republican period. Industrial area effects the environment and the brook negatively. The area sustains its life as it is for a long time. Coming to today from 1980s, the transition to the post-fordist production and the decentralization of the industry from big cities, necessitate a transformation that is triggered by the service sector’s rising existence and the need for offices and residences as a result.

A lot of the urban transformation processes in Turkey, appears as gentrifications of the existing city texture.The loss of character of the existing texture when it was aimed to gentrify it in the first place results in processes that result in the citizen to alienate from the place where he was born and growed up in and lose his place that cause painful conditions that are socially charged. The transformation in Cendere contains a replanning of the place that has become available with the leave of a function that is going to decentralize. In this sense it can be said that it breaks away from the urban transformations that displace people.

The association that the land owners in Cendere Valley has formed, aims to organize this actualization of transformation in a more integrated plan. For this reason, the association consulted by Istanbul Metropolitan Planning Governance which covers the area in 4 parts, introduces architecture firms like EAA into the process. In this project, in planning sustainable urban transformation process, EAA’s main approach can be accepted as not disregarding the expectations of the investors, looking out for the rights of the land owners and residents, increasing the public use areas and protecting social, ecological and environmental values. To sustain the green corridor character of the Cendere Valley for Istanbul by preserving the low density, and with this to also to obtain a density enough to create an urban life, was taken as a strategic decision referring to the whole area. This decision necessitated being in the antagonist position against all of the actors that wanted high density during the process.

Cendere Valley is in one of the most important ecological corridors in Istanbul. The forests on the Black sea side and the low-density settlement in the base of the valley, sustain this quality of the valley.

Cendere Valley is also located between the TEM and E5 highways which are important arteries of the city and with this quality it becomes advantageous in terms of transportation. The Buyukdere Avenue that is to the left of the valley is the most important initiator.The main arteries and building textures that left between Buyukdere Avenue and the valley, carry the potential to transform and connect these two areas. The Anadolu and Cendere Avenues that continue along the area, emerge as important, open to progress arteries of the region.

In the proposal, a controlled density that’s limits has been determined

by sustaining the buildings along Cendere and Anadolu avenues, emerges as an important instrument in the generation of city texture.

In this context, the continuity of the block that holds the avenue fronts, will be a decision that will effect the identity of the urban formation positively. The continuity of the arcade besides the edge of the avenue creates a sheltered walkway line infront of the commercial units on the ground floor.

The low-rise blocks along the main traffic arteries that hold one side of the avenue, on one hand keeps the continuity of the texture and on the other creates a permeable facade between the ecological corridor thats in th line of the avenue and the brook.

In the ground elevation which was planned to have dense public use, are passages and transitions that enable the pedestrian access between the avenue and the brook line and create a visual relationship.

Similarly, semi-open shaded spaces that enable multiple uses are placed rather than masses with uninterrupted facades,in the office zone. To seperate the functions to different blocks in plan level, creates irreparable division and divergence in the city texture. For this reason, instead of zoning in plan, the strategy of seperating functions in section was accepted as a way to sustain the mixed function building in the whole area.

The green terrace that is on the office zone divides the private areas on the upper grades from the public areas that are closer to the ground.

Beneath the gren terrace is the semi-public zone in which education, information, technology and office spaces are. The residential blocks that will be placed in the last layer of this formation settles on top of the continuous texture. Residential blocks use the green terrace as a common open space.

The focus points that will be planned to sign the activity areas with different thresholds along the ecologic line, will break the uniformity and create target points that will bring a rhythm to the urban environment.

The buildings that continuously follow one line along the avenue, will recede back and create steps in the brook side occasionally and allow the green areas both in plan and in section,to penetrate the building on ground level and the terraces on upper grades.

Along the valley high-rise blocks were avoided to not block the North-south air corridor and a formation combining low-rise and high-rise blocks was proposed.

The conjunction of the concrete channel that will be built fort he brook recovery and the green area should be a soft transitional band rather than a divergent and sharp line.

The Cendere region evolves into an ecological corridor enticing for all citizens.Thus, the near surrounding environment can reach a soft ground and natural water edge and the Cendere region evolves to be an ecological corridor enticing for not just the Cendere Region but for the whole city.

The rail system if placed near the brook recovery line with using compatible systems with nature, will increase the use of the valley and become a crucial vehicle.

Antakya, Turkey

The archeological findings discovered in an excavation on the project site in Antakya which is close to St. Pierre Church (an important Christian pilgrimage site), directed the employer who was planning to build a five-star hotel, to build a museum-hotel on the site. The dichotomy between the public program of an archeological park and the private use of the hotel becomes a major input in the design process.

The findings discovered during the excavations and the physical and sociological characteristics of Antakya act as primary sources of contextual information. The hotel, a placeless building-type defined by its own programmatic codes; turns itself inside out to deal with the specific characteristics of this unique situation and place. Since the hotel will be situated on a site characterized by archeological findings, in order to deal with this unique situation the program elements are considered as individual units spread on the site under a protective canopy, rather than building a compact, introverted, conventional hotel building.

The location of the findings discovered on site determines the exact location of the columns. The composite columns are situated on the trace of former riverbed that goes through the middle of the site and on the periphery of the site in order to minimize any potential damage to the findings. The canopy supported by these columns acts both as a marker for the archeological park and as a platform housing program elements such as the ballroom, meeting rooms, swimming pool and fitness center. This platform which can be regarded as a green-roof creates vista points to enjoy the view of the city and St.Pierre Hill and sustains the local tradition of roof terraces. Slits on the platform act as skylights for the archeological site below and provide a visual connection between the findings and the hotel amenities located on the platform.

The main body of hotel is consisted of prefabricated hotel-room units stacked on top of each other. The room-units placed on the steel sub-structure are connected to the main circulation with walkways and bridges. The rooms are located under the main canopy and this semi-open space creates an inner world where one can experience the climate and local conditions and has visual contact with the excavation site all the time. Cross- ventilation that occurs between these rooms units keeps the space cool in summer time. Terraces and gardens located under the canopy enhance the experience. The lobby, restaurant and lounge are located on the lower levels in relation with the archeological site. With its characteristics, the hotel becomes a site-specific building without compromising spatial standards of a five-star hotel.

T H E   F A C T O R Y

The ground has evaporated.

History is dead.

The world is one: One big market.

All that is genuine has been replaced by just one thing:

Spectacle.

A world of spectacle…

Where architecture treads on increasingly slippery ground…

Where spaces are no longer to be experienced but are the handmaidens of representation…

Where buildings are not just recognized as icons but are designed to be iconic…

Where cities are cobbled together from off-the-shelf components…

This is the world that the factory was born into.

Delving both the context of a work of architecture and the world of its actors, “THE FACTORY” is an exhibition which tells the story of the İpekyol Textile Factory, a building designed by EAA-Emre Arolat Architects that received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2010. The owners of the factory, the firm of İpekyol, are considered in terms of the relationship between Fashion and Image, the unfolding of the factory from its initial conception, and the interaction of the project with a capitalist economic system. At the same time, the architectural approach of the authors of the building, the firm of EAA-Emre Arolat Architects, is considered in the context of today’s architectural practices. The concept of “place”, which is becoming increasingly more difficult to define, is once again reflected upon while consideration is given both to the people of Edirne and to the people who work at the factory.

Exploring the building-actor relationships that were entered into during all the stages of the structure’s evolution from initial recognition of need to concept, design, and use, “THE FACTORY” also asks what the building has given back to everyone who has been involved.

December 01, 2011

Sancaklar Mosque and Antakya Hotel projects won the award in the categories of ‘Future projects Cultural’  and‘Future projects Commercial’ categories in the WAF.

WAF (World Architecture festival) which EAA highly commended in the category of  “future projects/commercial” for Antakya Hotel and in the category of “Future Projects/Cultural” for Sancak Mosque , has been organized by Emap Media Group in Barcelona between the 2nd and 4th of November, 2011.

November 22, 2011

“Unrealised  Projects: Remained Under the Ground” exhibition that the projects of EAA-Emre Arolat Architects are also included will be opening on Wednesday, November 23, in Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. The exhibition which is organized within the International Symposium on Theory of Architecture includes the unrealized projects of the architects. The exhibition can be viewed until November 26.