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CITY SERIES #6

“Ines Vieira Rodrigues”

Ines Vieira Rodrigues (Portugal, 1988). Master of Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of Porto (FAUP, 2012), dissertation titled "Rabo de Peixe - Society and Urban Form." Caleidoscopio released it as a book in 2016, and it was followed by three public presentations (Porto, Lisbon and Ribeira Grande, Azores). She is presently a PhD student and researcher at the Faculty of Architecture's Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism (CEAU), in the group Territory Dynamics and Morphologies. As a grabtee of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), she is conducting research on the Azorean archipelago's building.

Ms. Rodrigues began her presentation by clarifying what the term Rabo de Peixe means. It refers to the tail of the fish. Despite the fact that the name has no mythical origins, it aptly depicts the overall situation of the area. She went on to examine the parish's position in the globe before moving on to the overall characteristics of the area. According to her description, illiteracy affects the majority of the people. Most families in the parish have at least four members. Agriculture and fishing are the backbone of the economy, and unemployment is high. 

There is a concept of high and low zones on this island. The graphic shows the high zone in bright color and the low zone in dark hue. In summary, the low zone is the coastal side of the island where fishing takes place, while the high zone is the inner part of the island where summer agricultural takes place. Fishing is becoming a popular tourist attraction on the island.

The regions in this city plan appear undesigned, as if they were constructed from other portions. It is quite difficult to separate regions of the city such as public space or nodes. The functioning and breadth of the roadways are quite troublesome and prevent people from doing stuff. This region's cultural and social structures are significantly distinct.

Any examples similar to the urbanization of Rabo de Peixe from Turkey?

By neglecting a society's culture, two areas cannot be related. When designing an area or region, it is vital to comprehend the region's history facts and examine the causes behind this. If we go and design a place the way we want, we design it in a way that others don't want, except for their necessities, and we create confusion.

If we come to Turkey, unfortunately, there is social isolation all over our country. It's scary to see this on a city-by-city basis, especially since the east and west are regionally isolated. Due to the zoning peace, some of the houses that were destroyed or damaged in the Izmir earthquake remained standing and people lost their lives as a result of the failure to implement the so-called urban transformation programs. These structures were not strong enough, and no work was done as a remedy to fulfill the requirement. People's needs are not being served adequately in Turkey. A comparable disparity may be found in the Ankaya and Altnda neighborhoods of Ankara, Turkey's capital. Although the disparity between these two places is not as pronounced as it is in Rabo de Peixe, inequalities in people's livelihoods, housing, and income levels may be noted.

(These photos are taken from Ines Vieira Rodrigues’s presentation)

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CITY SERIES #7

“Roberto Rocco”

WATER MANAGEMENT AND DESIGN IN THE NETHERLANDS

Roberto has a master's degree in planning from the University of Sao Paulo, a speciality in urban management tools from the Ecole d'Urbanisme de Paris (previously Institut Français d'Urbanisme), and a PhD from TU Delft. He is an Associate Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy at TU Delft.

Roberto began his remarks by mentioning the Dutch Delta Programme. He also discussed water management in the context of a climate-resilient future. Because water is such an important source of life, it has always played an important role in cities. Most ancient towns, like Ephesus, were built near the sea. They need water for trade, agriculture, and other activities. Living near water demands control and management in order to live without issues. Regional planning is critical in this case. The Netherlands is situated on a delta. While this site has advantages since it is close to the sea, gives space for fishing, and has wonderful soil for agriculture, it is also exceedingly complicated and unstable. Living near water is required to keep this place in good condition. 

He continued his conversation with the Polder Model. He described the concept in terms of three characteristics: collective action, consensus-seeking, and faith in institutions. He expanded on his statement by noting that we are all under pressure due to concerns like as water scarcity, environmental degradation, and climate change. As a result, we may all employ collective reasoning to confront the challenges of the twenty-first century collectively. 

Why do you think it is important to have a regional planning approach?

He emphasized that the intricacies of the planning process's challenges are unlikely to be resolved without the participation of all regions and a regional plan in place. Since every section of the country does not reach a conclusion in this situation, it is good for areas in and of itself because a more intricate overall strategy does not always work. Regional planning, in my opinion, is essential. Even though this plan necessitates some actions on issues that are best suited to the region, there are some issues that can only be overcome by the combined efforts of all regions. However, as in the case of the Netherlands, when it comes to specific conditions of building strategies to handle rivers, there is no overall solution for the country but only for the regions. The Netherlands was noted in the presentation as a lowland nation with a direct connection to water. One of the most pressing issues confronting this country is the necessity for people to add water to their lives in order to survive, and a regional planning strategy is required to do this. People here live in close proximity to water and modify their lives appropriately. Natural phenomena such as drought, erosion, and storms have also risen as a result of climate change. All of these circumstances make it difficult for folks to live their lives. The Netherlands' regional planning method tries to develop a regional solution to these challenges by bringing together the governmental, corporate, and civil society sectors. As a result, regional planning is critical in order to satisfy the demands of the region, make the required preparations, and create a more living environment in order to avoid unfavorable events in the future.

(These photos are taken from Roberto Rocco’s presentation)

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CITY SERIES #5

“Nele De Raedt”

Our studio had Nele De Raedt as a guest. She is an assistant professor at the University of Louvain in Belgium, where she teaches architectural theory, history and criticism. The theme was Urban Planning and Everyday Life: A Closer Look at Campo De'Fiori in Rome. She talked about many definitions and concepts in her presentation. It is a presentation I remember very well because we discussed these concepts in the group assignment we did after the presentation. In his presentation, he talked about the public spaces in Rome, the interaction of these spaces and the squares that are very common there. Rome is generally known for its highly designed structure. The formalization process, which began in the 15th century, shaped almost every part of Rome and created a smooth circulation within the urban elements. Nele De Raedt gave several examples of frames in her presentation. These were not only examples of planning and physical aspects, but also examples of what kind of activities were held in the squares. From an activity point of view, some of these squares have more touristic uses due to their statues, monuments or location in the city. Another use is the daily activities I mentioned at the beginning. This is the starting point of the everyday concept. These squares play an active role in people's daily needs. The cafes, markets and bazaars in the squares make this an interactive space. The most striking of these squares was the Square of Campo de'Fiori. Until the 15th century Rome was in very bad shape, some changes were made to make it a better place as it was the capital of Christianity at that time. The main aim of the project was to make Rome a valuable Christian capital. The square and the roads connected to them, while the establishment of bazaars in the squares brought an economic income, it was very important for commercial activities because the roads were connected here and provided easy access. Now Campo de'Fiori noted that although the square is in the center, it is often a market place where local markets are located and products specific to the region are sold.

How can you explain those for the case of Turkish cities?

I may use the "Gezi Park" incident in Turkey as an example. Gezi Park represented a social battle that protected green against concrete, cultural centers against barracks, and democracy against oppression. The event began as a protest against the demolition of a park. It is also an example of resistance, demonstrating that those who walked to the streets to defend their freedom and right to life will die on this road if necessary. As a result, Taksim Square provides an amazing experience and a location that will live on in people's minds.

(These photos are taken from Nele De Raedt’s presentation)

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CITY SERIES #4

“Ali Rad Yousefnia - Brisbane”

Starting his presentation by focusing on the relationship between the city and nature, Ali Hoca stated how difficult it is to find the relationship between these two. He gave an example from Tadao Ando, ​​an architect who had not studied architecture first. Tadao Ando said, “I don't believe that architecture should talk too much. It must remain silent and leave nature in the guise of sunlight and wind.” he said. As can be seen in the quote, he is an architect who believes that nature should not be considered separately from our living space, but rather should be respected and referenced. Therefore, we can understand that urbanism and architecture are inherently unnatural, but if we value nature and learn to live with it, we can develop different approaches. Ali Rad Yousefnia continued his presentation by asking what is water, which is the common point of gardens and agriculture. Both are common with water. Cities try to live and use water together. Water can sometimes get in the way of everything and this is how a 'hydraulic empire' is formed. He stated that water is one of the three elements that shape a city. Other elements are gravity and topography. In addition, the transportation of water is a very important aspect of water management in cities. There are different ways to transport to different corners of cities, such as the wing road. Water is also used as a means of transport. In places where water enters the inner parts of the mainland by branching out, the use of water becomes transporting products to the city. Here ancient city Ephesus that we also examined in the last midterm assignment is cited because the usage of Port Romain is a good example for transporting products.

How do you evaluate the relationship between design and nature? What was the important moment/information you have learnt from the talk?

After listening to this presentation, I learned that we can shape cities according to the flow of water, that we must design by embracing and respecting nature, that we must learn the history of a place before planning, and how natural events or natural resources have brought the city together before. I think that nature and design can no longer be considered separately from each other. As Ali Hoca said, “We should live with natural habitats instead of destroying them.” While establishing the relationship between nature and design, people like the architect Tadao Ando should emphasize the importance of nature in design by bringing nature to the fore. This presentation also made a strong connection between the design and consequences of natural disasters for me.

(These photos are taken from Ali Rad Yousefnia’s presentation)

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CITY SERIES #3

“Dr. Martin Steskal”

This presentation was very important to me because it provided the opportunity to learn our final assignment, Ephesus, in much more detail. From the Austrian Archaeological Institute, Dr. Martin Steskal gave us an impressive presentation. One of the most critical aspects of Ephesus is its location. It is very interesting how the two mountains named 'Bülbül' and 'Fair Fair' are located in the region formed by the relationship and how the city communicates with the sea. While trying to examine the site for our midterm project, some relationships were emerging while taking references from the elements of nature and the city of Ephesus. However, while listening to this presentation, I realized that there are deliberate and ostentatious connections that create the City of Ephesus. Already before Martin Steskal's presentation, we started to examine the site and started on-site analysis. After reaching a certain stage, the historical and geographical information covered by the presentation contributed greatly to our field analysis and the development of our projects. Martin Steskal also talked about the changes that have occurred in the historical process in the grid layout, which is the basic design sub-order of Efes. Emphasizing the small changes in the historical process of the grid layout used in the Hellenistic period, he emphasized that the new grid plan applied in the Late Byzantine period caused a change in the old order of the city. He also talked about the city walls that were built during the Late Byzantine period and surrounded the city.

In Martin's presentation, there are 3 main remains in Ephesus, which we learned about their history, purpose of use and actual dimensions thanks to photographs and videos: Curetes Street: This street, which begins at the end of the Celsus library and is as significant as the harbor road, bears numerous signs of Ephesus' history, religious beliefs, and people's lifestyles. Agora:A commercial area along the port road and the theater where people congregate. This was not covered in our project. However, as an existing element, we had to pay attention to a structure while designing. Particularly because of the video Martin Steskal included in his presentation, I was able to roughly estimate the size of the Agora in real life and decided how the scale would reflect on my clusters in proportion to this size. Theatre: At the intersection of Liman Street and Marble Road, at the foot of Panayr Mountain, it is one of the magnificent constructions that blend in with nature. Because of its height, it is also a good vantage point for seeing the city. This location, where people gather for a variety of reasons, holds an essential and recognized role in our project.  While designing the project, I took care to leave the front of the theater as a more open area, and I created my design with the value of theater for people and the relationships it forms with the city in mind. My basic and guiding lines were directed to or outside the theater in the analyses and sketches I prepared at the most basic level of my design.

How did this presentation influence your midterm project?

First of all, this presentation helped me in many ways and was the trigger for starting my project. As I understood from Dr.Martin's speech, Ephesus was founded on a certain order and the buildings were shaped over this order. In this context, I created an order by referring to the important elements of Ephesus in the early stages of my project. These elements are Bülbül Dağ, the ancient harbor and Dr. The Celsus Library that Martin gives as an example. In this way, I tried to shape my spine in such a way as to highlight the theater and the port. Later, the location of Ephesus, the natural elements in the region, made me understand the importance of the sea to a great extent. I was having a hard time creating and using grids, but Dr.Martin's images helped me a lot in solving this problem.

(These photos are taken from Dr.Martin Steskal’s presentation)

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OPENNING TALK

by Asst.Prof.Dr. İnci Ayhan

Boğaziçi University, Department of Psychology Chair, Cognitive Science MA Program “Visual Arts and Design from the Eyes of a Vision Scientist”

She began her introduction by discussing the concepts of reality and representation. She then gave the pipe as an example. As in the pipe example, the things we view are actually connected to our perceptions that occur around us. It all comes down to our brain's capacity to perceive and understand knowledge.  According to İnci Ayhan, the objects in our eyes have the same field of vision and angle of view, and since the eye restricts us, we normally see the same objects.

Lines and Contours

Lines are described as the shortest distance between two points, which serve as the object's boundaries. Since our visual perception is formed by shapes, we perceive light, scale, tones, and colors differently.

What is the concept of abstraction? We've seen that abstraction involves drawing what you see from Latin origins and drawing a basic drawing by getting away from the specifics.

Finally, she referred to Baykan Günay's article to explain visual art features, gestalt, and scale. Gestalt values may work on a different scale, but they may not work on the individual scale, and they do not have a solution to residents' issues. At a point, experience differs; people who work in cities have a different perspective than what we build and plan. Taking 3D pictures is a difficult task.

(These photos are taken from İnci Ayhan’s presentation)

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FINAL:

May I Take Your Order? A Welcome Space at METU

My scenario basically started with solving the problems of the A1 gate today.

This is a meeting place for many people as it is on one of the most central streets of Ankara. For this, I created a public meeting area next to the Çinici gate where students can come together. After entering this area from the main entrance, I provided three different directions by providing a different openings.

The first is towards the science tree, the second is the area available to METU societies and the third is towards the resting area.

There are waiting areas where the second entrance is, and these areas are for students using hitchhiking or public transportation.

My main goal is to ensure the continuity of the movement, so I used acetate paper in areas where there are transition areas. And coinciding with areas with trees for transitions

At the same time, all of these regions are the part of semi public areas.

Other important things are the science tree and the Çinici gate, so I built the design completely on them, thanks to the reference lines I got from here, I provided orientation towards these regions.

The direction of flow and movement is towards the science tree.

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FINAL:

May I Take Your Order? A Welcome Space at METU

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City Series #5 

Guest Lecturer: Ender Peker, PhD* “Climate Responsive Design in Cities”

*Urban planner and researcher at British Institute at Ankara (BIAA)

Climate change is a worldwide concern today. In this lecture, Mr. Peker spoke about how city regional planners should respond to climate change and what they should take into account. Two phases are listed in this context. The first is mitigation. Planners may think about the emissions of gas that trigger climate change. The second step is adaptation. We need to respond to climate change, a crisis that everyone has to solve that is much worse than the disease that we have to contend with now.

(These photos are taken from Ender Hoca’s presentation)

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In_Class Exercise: Volume Relation

Feedback from the small work related our volume relation we did in the lesson.

(The photo belongs to Duygu hoca)

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Assignment #8

 REVISION ReplaySpace (VOL.2)

In my first revision homework, I understood the area relation without using color, and after learning it fully, I tried the use of color on the same homework and I set the regions with color as semi public.

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Assignment #8 

REVISION ReplaySpace (VOL.1)

With the information we learned from the Jury, I did a piece of my midterm homework again to correct my mistakes. Almost all areas in my midterm were the same size and there was no hierarchy, I tried to figure it out. Additionally, my use of color in midterm was random, so I avoided the use of color. I paid particular attention to the public and private domain relationship to establish a hierarchy. 

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CITY SERIES #4 Guest Lecturer: Merve Bedir, PhD*“Fluid Urbanisms of Social Movements: The Case of Hong Kong” Architect based in Hong Kong. Her work is located at the intersection of technologies of labour, mobility, and commons.
In this lecture, our guest teacher, Merve Bedir, told us about some of the acts that the people of Hong Kong have taken actively and consciously in their society and the extraordinary elements of these actions. The people of Hong Kong were trying to get out of the confusion with the least harm with the aid of technologies and to know the area in which they live. They used the social correspondence platforms that they developed to communicate with each other. Thus, even though they were in isolated areas, they were able to do the same thing at the same time and had the ability to avoid police raids.

(These photos are taken from Merve Hoca’s presentation)

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Some Notes from Midterm Jury and Jury Review

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City Series #3 

Presentation by Can Kubin*  “Scale and Detail in Urban Design”

* Urban designer, PROMIM Urban and Environmental Design

Plans are made by extracting and executing the approach of each size. For example, on scale 1/200, a section of the road can be seen. Another significant issue is that the number in the numerator of the scale should not be less than 1 and each scale needs a degree of detail.

(These photos were taken from Can Hoca’s presentation)

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City Series #2  Guest Lecturer: Mahir Yavuz

“Transforming the Way We Understand Cities”

*Mahir Yavuz - Co-Founder, Topos Prior to founding Topos, Mahir was the Director of Data Science and Visualization at R/GA. He worked on large scale data-driven products for global clients such as Nike, Samsung, PWC, Microsoft, and Uber. He is the co-founder of NYCViz and has presented his pioneering work in data visualization and UX/UI  internationally at a wide range of conferences. Mahir is currently adjunct professor at UPenn. Mahir’s academic background is in design and engineering (Istanbul Bilgi University) and HCI with a focus on data-driven cities (University of Linz, Austria).

Researching and analyzing the data we call countries' DNA, Mahir Yavuz and his team enable us to gain information from these data in many economic, cultural and social areas of the city and its population. And we can say that they help us to understand the cities better. Furthermore, the US claimed that companies can be categorized in three categories as urban space, suburban spaces and rural spaces, and that streets are as important as cities and spatial locations. It was also explained that the device (physical components), entities, and individuals were the three key features to be evaluated to obtain more accurate results (highly educated people, higher or lower incomes).

‘‘Bir şeyi aramak bir şeyi bulmaktan daha iyidir çünkü arayış hiç bir zaman bitmemeli. Para kazanmadığın bir iş asla bitmez.’‘

 -Veriyi arayan adam: Mahir Yavuz (TEDxReset, 2014)

http://tedxreset.com/content/veriyi-arayan-adam/

(These photos were taken from Mahir Hoca’s presentation)

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Lecture #8 

Why do we learn Gestalt Principles? 

by Zeynep Eraydın

In-class Exercise:  Tracing the City

(These photos are taken from Zeynep Hoca’s presentation)