TEDU Architecture
Hi everyone. This is my first post as an architect! And of course, the first thing to do after graduation is preparing the portfolio. I tried to make a minimal one, here are the digital and printed version of my precious portfolio. I hope you like it. And I would be glad if you can share your opinions and comments.
Lastly, if you want to check this on Behance, here is the link; https://www.behance.net/gallery/125771659/Architectural-Portfolio
Hi! The final jury, the last jury of my life is coming. We had a submission before the final jury. But this submission were just for drawings, so here I have some drawings as a spoiler of final jury.
The design part of the project has almost over, now I will focus on the graphic quality of my drawings and colors.
The last lecture of the course was about the history of skyscrapers in the US and the terrorist attack in New York. New York City was planned with a grid since 1807. With time passing, the city has developed and it has become one of the most important and crowded cities in the world. So, the rush to build more and more buildings has started with the increasing population. The solution was found with the invention of the elevator; skyscrapers.
With this new building type, the rules for that type have come too. The Zoning Resolution in 1916 was given some rules for the design of the skyscrapers. Also, this building type brought the race to build the highest building in the world. The Empire State building was the highest one for long years until 1974, the construction of the World Trade Center. But today, Burj Khalifa is the highest building.
Another building that has joined the race was the Twin Towers. It was again very high, but the construction of it was very controversial. The foundation of the building was wet soil, so it was dangerous. People living there were not supportive of its construction.
And with those extremely high buildings, the fear of falling came too. They were too high, and people were afraid of their falling. This fear was the subject of lots of movies, comics and etc. But one day, this fear has come true. On 09.11.2001, the Twin Towers were attacked by terrorists. Two planes crashed into the buildings and 3000 people died. The buildings have collapsed after the crash. This was a huge disaster, people were shocked. Now, two memorial pools are built on the footprints of the towers. This disaster is different from the others because this is all man-made. The destroyed building is man-made and also the destroying force is man-made. I think this is worse than any other natural disaster because this is human destroying humans.
This week’s lecture was about Berlin, and World War II’s huge impact on the city. In 1949, Berlin was divided into two as East and West Berlin. West Berlin was under the influence of France, Britain, and the US; and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) appeared in the west. East Berlin was under the rule of the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was present there. Those two different ideologies caused opposition and Berlin witnessed two different ideologies while reconstructing the city. East Berlin was designed with monumental structures, and the axes were reflecting socialism. The West was reconstructed with the help of Marshall’s aid. This division was legible in Berlin, but in 1961, the construction of the 155 km-long Berlin Wall made the division literal.
With the wall constructed, the historical center of Berlin has remained in East Berlin, so the West created a new center for the western part. And also, a new housing type appeared for that part of the city which is called Plattenbau. Plattenbau is a housing block constructed with large, prefabricated concrete slabs.
In 1989, the wall has destroyed. But the existence of the wall has created a divided city. There were two different city centers. This led the city to have a breathable environment instead of an intense texture. The divided texture of the city led people to come up with different approaches. One of the approach was the Green Archipelago concept by Oswald Mathias Ungers, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Riemann, Hans Kollhoff and Arthur Ovaska. The concept suggests to use the fragmentation of the city as the main design approach. The fragmented parts can be considered as the islands, the ‘Archipelago’s of the city. Actually, in one of our classes, we have made a presentation about this concept. I have a more detailed post about Archipelago, if you want to check it, here is the link; https://gizemkalay.wordpress.com/2019/11/29/archipelago-concept/
As we have seen in lots of cases, the crisis is the driving force for the cities to renovate themselves. This crisis had the same effect on Berlin too, but this one was a bit different from the previous cases because, in Berlin, the reconstruction of the city has shaped with the wall. The wall divided the city and after the wall, the reunited city still had its unique texture. It was interesting to see the effects of division and reunion in city planning.
This week, the topic was the carpet bombing of Rotterdam in 1940 and the modernist city approach. Germany bombed Rotterdam on May 14, 1940, and German occupation until 1945 followed the bombing. The bombing lasted 15 minutes but it was devastating. Nearly all of the buildings have been destroyed or burned down. The problems like starvation followed these disasters during the occupation. There was no gas, no electricity, no light, or no facilities for heating or cooling. So, the citizens moved to the countryside to take some food from the farmers. The city center was completely destroyed.
The historic Rotterdam was unable to accommodate people in many aspects, for example increasing traffic. It was obvious that the city needed a transformation, modernization because of the desired conditions that would allow for economic expansion and mobility, and also the lack of infrastructures of the port. As we know, Rotterdam is a city formed near a dam and then enlarged with new docks and fortifications. So, the urban development was naturally focusing on the expansion of the port and the city to the south and the west. In the process, Willem Gerrit Witteveen and Rotterdam’s Architect Society Opbouw were such a big help. Witteveen was planning to dominate the city with wide boulevards and avenues, and perimeter blocks. Opbouw’s approach was to interfere with the residential buildings with modern concepts.
There were ideas of reconstruction, but it was of course hard to realize them. The carpet bombing in 1940 was a driving force for the issue. Since all of the cities were destroyed, now they had to put those ideas into practice. So, the reconstruction of the city has started. There were two different plans for the city. One of them belongs to Witteveen, who wanted to combine the historic city center with a modern cityscape. Another plan belonged to Traa, who wanted to separate the areas for living, working, and recreation. And now, the businesses and factories were relocated outside the city center. The city was also a great admirer of the American cities in the 1930s. Architects were visiting American cities like New York and Chicago. So, we can easily say that the Americans were also an inspiration for the development of the city. The reconstruction has started in 1947.
It is hard to re-design and re-construct a city. I think it is not possible to start to re-construct a city suddenly. There, unfortunately, should be a disaster which demolishes the city. This forces people to reconstruct, renovate. We have seen natural disasters until Rotterdam, as fires and earthquakes. The fires of London and İzmir can be an example of that. But I think Rotterdam is more similar to İzmir than London. Because in London, the street plans of the city were kept. The city was not completely reconstructed. But İzmir is more similar to the case of Rotterdam. In both, the city was reconstructed. But I think the difference between old and new is much more obvious in the Rotterdam case.
Hi, here I am with my second pre-jury drawings. My main idea remains the same but I have tried to improve it after the prejury I. I am still dividing the programs into two according to the user profile. Here you can see my analyses, my diagram, the list of programs, placement of the programs, and site plan;
As I am dividing programs into two, I have two parts in my presentation. The first part is for the constant user part, which includes the add-on and the research development block. For the block, I am using a platform for providing circulation. This platform is a loop that also connects the needed fragmented flowing programs to my big research block. Here are the drawings and 3D views;
The second part is the programs with changing user, the fragmented flow. This part includes temporary accommodation, education & learning, mass activity ground, and leasable areas. To be able to design this complex part with a system, I have a catalog for the spaces that I am using. And I also have some patterns that I am repeating 3 or 4 times to create the required spaces. They can be repeated when needed.
Hi everyone! This term, we are designing an Impact Hub for İskenderun. Before introducing the project, if you want to check what an impact hub is, here is a link for you; https://impacthub.net/
Our site is in İskenderun, and it is located in the industrial zone. There are lots of industrial shops surrounding the site. And naturally, everywhere is full of scraps. Even our site has piles of scrap in the current condition. So, I am planning on recycling those. Here are some of my analyses about the issue.
After the analyses, I have divided the programs into two according to user profiles. Programs with constant user are in a constant, rigid block and the rest is flowing in the middle and connecting to the blocks when needed. Here are my first trials;
This week, Osman Yozgat and Abdulbaki Demir have presented us İzmir. The fire was a great problem for İzmir since the Ottoman Period. The houses were made of wood because the material was easy to reach, easy to transport, and also it was cheap. But wooden buildings also mean fire. They can easily burn. And also the city fabric was very efficient for fire to spread. Houses were really close to each other. So people were demolishing some buildings to avoid the spread of fire and they were stocking up water in their roofs to be prepared for a possible fire.
There were lots of fires that occurred between 1742 and 1922 in İzmir, but the ones in 1922 were very damaging. It is called the Great Fire of İzmir. The fire started in the Armenian quarter. 200.000 people lost their houses, 2.000 of them died and 14.000 houses burned down. After this huge destruction, the city needs to be re-designed. Dangers and Proust were responsible for that. They have developed an urban plan for İzmir in 1924, in the early Republican Period. In that plan, the parcels were separated by roads, and these roads were reaching to the big squares and the port. There were big public squares designed for the city, like Konak Meydanı, Cumhuriyet Meydanı, and Gündoğdu Meydanı. Henri Prost has also prepared the first master plan for İstanbul. After Ankara became the capital city, İstanbul was in the shadow of Ankara. The population was decreasing. So there was a need for a plan to make İstanbul shiny again. Henri Proust designed the big roads and big squares in İstanbul too.
Fires are the disasters that literally erase the cities texture and history. Another big fire that we have seen in this course was the Great Fire of London. Both of the fires have wiped down the life in the city, so this means an opportunity to re-create the city. But the biggest difference between London and İzmir is this re-designing issue. London was not re-designed completely, the roads were the same but just bigger; so the network of the city was the same. But this was not the case for İzmir. The street layout has also changed, now there were wide roads and big avenues designed. I think both approaches have pros and cons. Erasing the texture of the city erases the urban memory also, the city becomes somewhere else; and it was hard for people to adjust to this new city when they don’t have navigations and such like we have today. But re-creating is also an opportunity to create a better and much-improved city. This means transforming the disaster into an advantage for a better city. So it can be debated which approach is better.
Spanish flu was an influenza pandemic that had a huge effect on 1920s Vienna. Before the pandemic, Vienna was the most populous city of Austria, but approximately 1/3 of the world’s population have died because of the flu. Also, there was World War I going on those years. Everybody was taken to war, so all society was now part of the war. So in the end, the Spanish Flu together with World War I, caused lots of damage for Vienna like economic decreases, lack of food, the need for socialization and jobs, and lack of hospitals. The basic things of living were now a dream. As a cause, the municipality and the state decided to provide social housing for all those people.
Unlike Paris’ change with Haussmann, there were no strict rules about what to build and how to build. Buildings with different heights and different facades were built. So the city was built with diversifications. Lots of huge building blocks take their place in the city. For example, Winarskyhof is the most well-known social housing project of the era. It is a perimeter block with two city blocks, and also the first modern building. Those huge blocks have also huge courtyards, big gardens. That reminds the garden city idea. They have tried to create as much green area as they can.
The Spanish Flu is very similar to today’s pandemic, Covid-19. With this lecture, I saw that we are not in a different situation. With the Spanish Flu, the biggest change was in housing blocks. Now, people had clinics in their apartments, because they have understood the importance of health issues. And another aspect was, each unit of the block was working on in itself. They all get light and natural ventilation. Big courtyards also helped with this issue. A courtyard that big is obviously helps every unit to get light. I wonder if we will also see those transformations in buildings after Covid-19. Probably we will, because even we, the architecture students are started to design projects considering this kind of health issue. I think the designers who have dealt with Covid-19 will be more caring about the health, and this will be the future effect of Covid-19.
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