the_city

it's the end of the world as i know it

life...

How there are things you can do with your hands, instead of drafting in CAD; or how there are things in this life, greater than architecture...

the_inbetween

order of chaos

occupied void

2009.07.08

education

the challenge today is to be able to go against the stupefying education system while being educated in it

2006.04.26

During the first years I began to study architecture, I realized that I should not only develop my understanding of architecture but also consider how do the others perceive what I dream and design. I strongly believe the most important aspect of architecture, is the way we affect the life of others. Treating the final product as a complete process of thinking, perception of any relation defined or idea developed by the others, constitutes one of the most important components of any designed space. Being concerned by this matter of understanding and being understood, I’d like to carry on my graduate study at M.E.T.U. researching a subject in regard with the signification of an architectural design, both during the design and realization processes. 

impossibility of harmony (?)

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

George Bernard Shaw

bamboobox

prefabricated single room units constructed out of bamboo;
hot bent bamboo beams are woven with split bamboo, like a basket...

designed by Gurhan Ucaroglu

bamboobox

plastic wrapped woven bamboo container;
proposed as temporary dwelling on rooftops

designed by Gurhan Ucaroglu

You don't have the luxury to miss life.

Nazım Hikmet

harmony...

"...the ultimate state of harmony is death. For living things and systems, harmony means the resolution of conflicts and the achievement of a final, 'peaceful,' state."

dmz - lebbeus woods

flying memory

running away

in between

value / deger

Architecture is condemned to face the intrinsic paradox of the notion of value.

Mimarlik, deger kavraminin icsel celiskisiyle yuzlesmeye hukum giymistir.

Architecture does not solve problems. Its distinction, if any, lies in the quality of problems it creates.

Lebbeus Woods

penceremden dunya

The Architect in Havana

Considering the redefinition of architecture’s role in the light of the previous discussion, it should be stated that the notion of "private property" is not the main concern regarding such a role, but it is rather the "capital" which constitutes the basis in any economic systems.
Particularly because of this reason, architecture’s role is irrelevant in Havana: It is not possible to integrate itself in the production of the city neither via state or private capital. The current situation of the discipline would be summarized as follows: Architecture in Havana (most possibly Cuba in general) has access to very limited national capital and restricted foreign capital (some restoration projects and some restricted foreign investments). Therefore the current validity of the discourse is minimal and consequently the exercise of the practice is restricted.
However, the "production of space" is still practiced actively in Havana, both by the state and the citizens. The Cuban society under transformation produce their own space, with their own means. Current political paradigms give way to the possibilities for public initiatives to produce space under the toleration of the state. And these spaces are not necessarily "confirming" but possible to "challenge" the state hegemony in the city.
Since any "role" architecture would take on cannot be without the "production of space" in a society, this field of influence between the "formal" and "informal" seems to be the right place to look for it in Havana... The "margins".

G.U.

inspiring...

Alex Gopher's The Child from H5

complexification of complexity

i'm going slightly mad
i'm going slightly mad
it finally happened- happened
it finally happened - oh yes
it finally happened
i'm slightly mad
just very slighltly mad

and there you have it

consciousness...

found somewhere hard to find outside Havana

_(it brings back to) consciousness
_the reasons that-they do not contribute-to the well-being-they are not been worth
_it works-it creates-it lives-revolution

hoşgörü (toleration)

It doesn't matter what you believe in if you think everyone else is wrong.

- Matthew Good

and it makes me wonder...