Yazar: tolgahansahin

ARCHITECTURES OF ASSEMBLAGE: Environmental-and-Urban Urgencies in Izmit

With reference to our analysis on the historical and urban setting of İzmit, we pointed out the strong impact of water infrastructure on the city’s urban fabric. Back then, İzmit was known as Nicomedia as the capital of Roman Empire. The aqueducts spatial and organizational characteristics was a starting point for us, that we had interpreted in our design. This made it possible to solve the problem of accessibility to waterfront, as well as increasing the experience throughout our project site. The aqueduct typologies and interpretations enhanced permeability in x-y-z coordinates. Thereafter, we used the potential of ‘’waterscape’’, Kumla Stream, which is the most dominant one, as an initiator. Since water is one of the most effectful force in ecological resilience/robustness, combining the historical and ecological background of the site made it possible to develop an assemblage of ‘’Resilient Singularities’’.
The terminology that we introduce as ‘’Resilient Singularities’’ has roots coming from the nature of ecological systems. The ‘’Assemblage’’ of Resilient Singularities behavior against damages especially caused by anthropocentric acts, is defined as their resilience. Together with our architectural design the program elements will increase the ecological resilience while regenerating the existing condition in the site. Moreover, our strategy was to develop a holistic formation and integrate it with scapes (water, air, earth, sun). Together with the ideology of designing a compact, low carbon footprinted and ecological concept of design that locates itself at definite at our strategical zones, we decided to re-arrange the western side of the landscape. The importance of this condition is that at the particular area the stream meets the Izmit Gulf(which is a fertile delta formation, however became a brownfield due to the anthropocentric acts), so we had revitalized the defined zone and offer a scenario of the reformation of wetland characteristics.

In that sense, we pointed out singularities, potentials and possibilities of the site. we took Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts: The Tower as a starting point to develop sequential analysis of the site. We analyze the site with frames and strip formation, which are linear elements to point out different potentials and relationships between singularities.

We started with abstraction of the context as MOVEMENT-SPACE-EVENTS, which refers movement as circulation and pedestrian access, spaces as scapes; softscape, hardscape, waterscape, events as collaboration, ecologic, biologic and hydrologic events.

We juxtaposed categories to analyse sequences within the frame, each frame refers different sequences to understand the contex and potentials inbetween Kumla stream and Urban context.

So, we decided possibilities of aqueducts, it may starts the change. Using the potential of aqueducts may rearrange the possibilities of singularities.

UNFINISHED SPACES

UNFINISHED SPACES- AS AN ASSEMBLAGE?

Today, I watched a documentary Unfinished Spaces by Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray, 2011. It is about architects and their architecture after Cuban revolution, and tension between freedom and insisting on architecture (on 1960s and 70s). Documentary starts with what revolution brought, ‘’questioning’’. Questioning everything. Freedom is about questioning the hole, then new configured or assembled hole is existed. New livings, new territories, new dreams, new architecture… Dreaming a utopia, free spirit. These are all contains ‘’revolution’’ for Cuban people whose are living at that time. According to documentary, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, whose are 2 figures of Cuban revolution, were playing golf at yard, then they thought, what if here is serving for education for social arts? Rather than Luxurious usage, it is possible to serve these yards for public usage. The revolution exists with an imagination and spirit of revolution must be built, must be constructed as a building. Then they found Ricardo Porro and asked him to construct a place in two months. He found 2 Italian architects whose are Roberto Gottardi and Vittorio Garatti, they simultaneously started the project. Also, space organization and gatherings are informal and open-ended. They designed spaces according to spirit of communist society which means that undetermined space organization between nature and construction. Rather than a singular spaces or enclosed structures, they tried to combine and arrange nature and structure. Columns set rounded, where main space was emerged, then they articulate other spaces, which makes design open-ended. I tried to relate documentary with Deleuze and Guattari Theory of Assemblage, because their criticize was emerged communist societies and social structures. In that sense, while I was watching the documentary, I realized that their architecture is an assemblage itself. For an example of it, Ricardo Porro was imagined body of an Afro-Lady, then he designed the domes of the structure, and he placed a Papaya (fruit) sculpture at the center of the piazza, which he imagined sexual organ of a lady. Another example is, they tried to extract the essence of communism. According to documentary, students of the arts worked in cooperate with workers to built faster; after construction built, there is no determined spaces between musicians, painters and theatre students. Main ideology of the education program was hands on working, and indeterminacy between working areas, all spaces begun social spaces and organization became social. They worked together and there was interrelationship between students, where creative atmosphere emerged.

In some years, after Cuban politics were turning their faces to Soviet Union, construction style was changed. Because, Porro, Gottardi and Garatti designed their buildings with terracotta (which they manufactured locally). However, new politics were made an agreement with Soviet Union to use prefabrication on construction. In that sense, ministry of Civil Engineering and Architecture was shut down their construction, and they were marginalized by organizations. Thus, Porro and Vittorio Garatti left from Cuba to Paris (Porro) and Milano (Garatti). At the beginning of the 21st century, their design was researched and criticized, and 2008 government decided to rebuild, restore and conserve buildings. Because after construction was stopped, buildings became ruins. At 2008, government invited architects to finish and rehabilitate their buildings. However, it won’t because of the government policy again. However, while they were talking about to rehabilitate the project, Gottardi said priceless sentence, ‘’this is a project that you can’t view as born at one time. It is a project that has been evolving for over 45 years.’’.

The Documentary named unfinished spaces, at the first look, I guess that project is shut down and never ever finished, however, after I watched the documentary, I realized that it will never ever finish and has an end.

to discuss and compare more: Paolo Soleri-Arcosanti / New Babylon-Constant Nieuwenhuys

pictures ref: Unfinished Spaces, Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray, 2011

Pre-Jury 2

Our general design approach is to create RESILIENT SINGULARITIES (our lexicon keyword) which we defined at the earlier stages, and make a hollistic and integrative design. Also we made analysis on Nykomedia as we now recognise as İzmit and saw that aquaducts had high-quality effectat the city’s developement and organisation. Their spatial and organisational characteristics changed into a starting point for us so we attempted to interpret the layout on our project. Also inside our interpretation on aquaducts we saw that permeability (as can be seen within the 2nd slide, in x-y-z dimentions) in our web page and desing in imoırtant for us.

And on the slide show, the final slide consists of the reference case study on how we would really like to make our gallery openings. Actually, our jury went well, handiest we need to make more distinctive plan drawings.

QR: Fragmented Singularities

This visual was made according to principles of framing sequence, where I tried to consider on last term project, reinterpret as an assamblage and trying to decontextualize the contex of the project to find out how we can assemblage a project or how we could bring assemblage in architecture. The image is referenced from the Manhattan Transcripts Project, New York, Episode 3: The Tower (The Fall) 1979, and it tried to abstract sequential movement and experience on project. Dots are biological activities, traverse lines are collecting activity, horizontal lines are stable activities, vertical lines are open air activities, empty frames are refer to movement and circulation; and also coloring frames are the users of temporal activities. I tried to define frames according to activity as I mentioned, with generic architectural system and it creates endless sequence and variations which we could said why collecting activities or stable activities are state there. It creates possibilities of fragmanting singularity and it will create assemblage of possibility of fragmanted singularities.

Eco_x/ Proposal

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On term project, as I mentioned before, I started to design system. According to our analyses, I considered on walls of something idea as a strategy, what i mean is, I tried to make connection between 2 sides of lagoon, which are seperated because of water, and intime, there is tension between manmade and nature. How we can connect and interrelate seperated lifes, and how we control tension, invasion and damage between them? In that sense eco_fortification was came as a tool according to strategy. So; strips are elements to let people can pass somewhere to somewhere, so I used strips to connect 2 sides of Hersek Lagoon, according to our group analyses, as I mention before, wetland invasion is a kind of dystopia that we must handle with, and strips are also turned into filter (a controller element for optimize, minimize or maximize invasion of manmade or wetland). While it worked as linear and functional element, it also bring programs, you can find above.