Turkey:At the Threshold

Turkey:At the Threshold

All eyes are currently on Turkey with Istanbul’s status as European Capital of Culture 2010. It makes it a pertinent moment to take stock and to look at Turkey’s past, present and future, bringing the nation’s cultural renaissance and evolution to the fore internationally. Since the early 2000s, Turkey has undergone a remarkable economic recovery, which has been accompanied by urban development and a cultural flowering. Positioned between an expanding European Union and an unstable Middle East, the country provides a fascinating interface between the Occident and the Orient. Taking into account the current political concerns with consolidating Eastern and Western cultures, Turkey is poised at a vital global crossroads:

• Tackles aspects of globalisation and the potential threat that a rapid rolling out of an overly homogenised built environment poses to rich local building traditions that are founded on specific, climatic, knowledge and cultural diversity.
• Provides an analytical approach that highlights specific aspects of Turkey’s rich heritage and current design culture.
• Features work by established and emerging design practices in Turkey.
• Contributors include Tevfik BalcIoglu, Gülsüm Baydar, Edhem Eldem, Tolga Islam, Zeynep Kezer, Ugur Tanyeli, Ilhan Tekeli and Banu Tomruk.

AD+
Practice Profile: Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A)
Interior Eye: Jil Sander Boutique and Derek Lam Boutique, New York
Building Profile: Raven Row, Spitalfields, London
Unit Factor: The EmTech Wave Canopy 2009
Userscape: Dynamic Light: The Media Facades of realities:united
Site Lines: Mecanoo Architect’s Library of Birmingham
Regular columns from Will McLean, Neil Spiller and Ken Yeang

Table of Contents

Editorial
Helen Castle

Introduction
Turkey: At the Threshold
Hülya Ertas, Michael Hensel and Defne Sunguroglu Hensel

Extended Thresholds I: Nomadism, Settlements and the Defiance of Figure-Ground
Michael Hensel and Defne Sunguroglu Hensel

Extended Thresholds II: The Articulated Envelope
Michael Hensel and Defne Sunguroglu Hensel

Ottoman and Turkish Orientalism
Edhem Eldem

The Story of Istanbul’s Modernisation
Ilhan Tekeli

The Making of Early Republican Ankara
Zeynep Kezer

Medium-Scale Anatolian Cities: Conceptual and Physical Routes of Urban Transformation
Banu Tomruk

The Potential of Istanbul’s Unprogrammed Public Spaces
Hülya Ertas

Current Urban Discourse, Urban Transformation and Gentrification in Istanbul
Tolga Islam

Developing Cities with Design
Tevfik Balcioglu and Gülsüm Baydar

Creating Interfaces for a Sustainable Cultural Programme for Istanbul: An Interview with Korhan Gümüs
Hülya Ertas

Extended Thresholds III: Auxiliary Architectures
Michael Hensel and Defne Sunguroglu Hensel

Transforming Turkey: Eight Emerging Practices
Hülya Ertas

To Integrate or Not to Integrate?
Ugur Tanyeli

Practice Profile - Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A)
Mark Garcia

Interior Eye - Jil Sander Boutique and Derek Lam Boutique, New York City
Jayne Merkel

Building Profile - Raven Row, Spitalfields
David Littlefield

Unit Factor - The EmTech Wave Canopy 2009
Michael Weinstock

Spiller’s Bits - Telling Stories …
Neil Spiller

Yeang’s Eco-Files - Designing for Low-Carbon Lifestyles
Mukti Mitchell and Ken Yeang

McLean’s Nuggets
Will McLean

Userscape - Dynamic Light: The Media Facades of realities:united
Valentina Croci

The Museum is the Exhibit
Jayne Merkel

Site Lines - Library of Birmingham
Howard Watson