A|Z ITU JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE

Not impossible

2023-03-30T08:54:15+03:00

Transforming perception of space in the pandemic agenda: From real space to virtual space

2022-12-20T13:41:31+03:00

Due to the COVID-19, a lot has changed regarding daily routines. Homes have become an extension of the public sphere. Because of the pandemic, people’s daily roles have moved mainly into the home via the internet and this shift has created a new multi-role situation. Within the scope of the study, an online semi- structured interview was conducted to examine people’s experiences of the new representations of the house. The findings in this case study were evaluated with the literature and discussed under these headings: representation of self and representation of space. The study showed that; house, as the new representation space, has become a part of the social identity shared with the public. Objects seen by the camera served as an indicator of self-representation. The privacy of the home was disturbed by the host of the public. The house has become a place where many identities have to exist together. Interviews show that the home’s effect on representation cannot be denied. The house is now both a private and a public space, hosting many formal and informal activities. Moreover, while at home, many personal and spatial representations have been transferred to the virtual world. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the home a part of the public space. However, the house is not designed to function as a public space and acts as an insufficient representation of self and place. If daily life continues with a focus on home, the house should be redesigned by the new representations it hosts.

Financial model adaptation for building energy efficiency retrofits in Turkey

2023-01-20T04:45:54+03:00

Energy efficiency (EE) applications in buildings are supported by various financing mechanisms in many countries around the world. However, financial support systems in Turkey, especially in EE applications for residential buildings are quite limited. This research aims to propose a financing system that can be used for energy efficiency improvements of residential buildings in Turkey. The methodological framework of the study is based on literature research with the detailed content analysis. In the first step of the study, implemented or planned financial support systems within the context of energy efficiency are examined and successful case studies presented, especially focusing on Europe where the old building stock is concentrated. In the next step, the current situation in Turkey is examined within the scope of energy efficiency financing. Deficiencies in existing financial support systems and needs have been evaluated. In the third part, a proposal has been made for the financing system which does not include energy efficiency improvements in existing buildings in Turkey, and a financial model adaptation has been made for Turkey’s conditions by taking advantage of good practice examples in Europe. While making this adaptation, singular suggestions in the available literature were referred and the obstructions in the current situation were attempted to eliminate with a holistic approach.

Technology-led evolution of interior space: Interiors becoming products

2023-01-20T04:45:50+03:00

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) were hosted by industrial products since their emergence in the 1980s. They entered daily life through products – in the shape of black boxes – and changed habits, ways of executing tasks, and dynamics of interaction with each other and our surroundings. ICTs offered a revolutionary domain, the digital world, and used physical and digital representations and tools to manipulate this world. As offerings of the digital increased, human-computer interaction and its design gained importance, User Interfaces emerged to meet human diversity and dynamicity. Today ICTs’ hosts are shifting from products to spaces. In this study, we investigated the relation between ICTs, products, and spaces to understand the needs of space as ICT hosts. Sensory diversity in user interfaces increased, physical restraints of hosts decreased, and new more adaptive technologies such as artificial intelligences and augmented reality emerged. The evolution of user interfaces indicates the goal is to implement natural interaction, placing the user at the centre and mimicking the way humans interact with the physical world. While both architecture and product design are user-oriented, product designers practised more on implementing ICTs to hosts as the initial hosts were products. Since ICTs are becoming embedded into spaces, interiority is changing, built environments will consist of conventional building elements, ICTs, and user interfaces. As the host is shifting, interiors are becoming a part of communications systems that needs a transdisciplinary approach to design.

A unique representation of Ottoman residential architecture: 19th century summerhouses in the Kadıköy District, Istanbul

2023-01-20T04:45:52+03:00

In Ottoman architecture, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are known as the Westernization Period of Ottoman Art. All of the various types of structures of Ottoman architecture display a concentrated western influence in these period. In particular, with the era of Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909), European-based architectural movements can be said to have virtually invaded the land, producing as a result a rich diversity of styles. The summerhouses emerged as a new residential typology in the nineteenth century and appeared in Istanbul’s coastal districts and the Princes’ Islands. The aim of this article is to present the wooden summerhouses that were products of the era in which Ottoman culture turned its face to the west, creating a unique group of residential architecture in the 19th century. Toward this end, various nineteenth century examples of these houses in the Kadıköy District of Istanbul have been explored in terms of their plan designs, the new elements of their layout, and the formation of their facades.

Comparative perception analysis in special-qualified heritage landscapes

2023-01-20T04:46:01+03:00

There is a wide variety of landscapes and there are many different landscape characteristics that constitute them. Rare and unique landscapes exhibit an even more distinctive profile in terms of their characteristics. The aim of this study; is to evaluate the Göreme (Nevşehir) region, which is on the UNESCO heritage list and has an extraordinary landscape with its landforms, natural and cultural history and all its beauties, in terms of landscape perception and to reveal the perceptual effect of cultural heritage values. In the study, the participant assessment was performed with 12 pieces of landscape scenes taken from the area and The Affect Grid (AG) and The Scenic Beauty Estimation (SBE) Methods were implemented. While the results revealed the effectiveness of The Affect Grid Method and the data obtained, they also ensured that the visual values of the district could be analysed. Examples of rock-carved and masonry house combinations that received high scores in the impact analysis were the images exhibiting the typical residential structure of the region. In addition, when looking at the general distribution, related results were obtained from SBE and AG analyses. Furthermore, the scenic beauty, pleasure, and arousal scoring which are the sensational elements based on The Affect Grid Method showed parallelism as M=6,67, M=6,06, M=6,00 on average. There is statistically a very important relationship between the pleasure dimension, arousal dimension and scenic beauty scores(p < 0.001). The findings obtained point out the basic critiques for similar studies to be carried out in the field of perception in similar areas.

Architecture education before ITU Faculty of Architecture: Actors shaping the architecture education in Yüksek Mühendis Mektebi Mimari/İnşaat Şubesi and their impact (1928-1941)

2023-01-20T04:45:58+03:00

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Faculty of Architecture has been one of the pioneering architecture schools for architecture education in Turkey since the 1940s. Learning about the period leading to the establishment of the faculty is essential in understanding the institutionalization of architecture education in Turkey. Having transformed into ITU in 1944, Yüksek Mühendis Mektebi (YMM) Mimari Şubesi (Architecture Branch) became the ITU Faculty of Architecture. Having functioned as ITU Faculty of Architecture’s core, YMM Mimari Şubesi is still very little-known today. The usually told tale has been about the İnşaat Şubesi (Building Branch) being under Monsieur Dèbes’ directorship that it was transformed into the Mimari Şubesi thanks to Emin Onat’s efforts and struggle against Monsieur Dèbes. Mostly comprised of engineering classes, İnşaat Şubesi was considered to be reshaped through Onat’s perspective on architecture and education as an actor regarded as the faculty’s founder. Positioning Onat in the center, this establishment narrative conceals the other actors shaping architecture education in YMM, their objectives and reflections in the education. In this study, the history of YMM Mimari/İnşaat Şubesi is being built through archived documents and narratives of individuals who bore witness to the period. This endeavor not only helps correct the information considered as known facts regarding the renowned actors like Dèbes and Onat but also unveils those other fundamental actors of architecture education and their influence. Discussing the period behind ITU Faculty of Architecture’s establishment with all of its actors provides new ways to understand the institutionalization of Turkey’s architecture education.

Evaluation of functional flexibility in contemporary Japanese housing layouts: Integration of user perspective

2023-03-30T00:47:09+03:00

In recent decades, given the indefinite identity of residents to house designers and builders, along with changes in families’ lifestyles, flexibility has regained its importance in housing design. The present study aimed to develop the concept of functional flexibility, which accommodates potential responses to non-physical changes by users. Since the responsiveness and efficacy of flexible solutions in housing units largely depend on the residents’ reactions to these solutions, this study integrated the user perspective to evaluate and improve functional flexibility in contemporary Japanese housing. To evaluate functional flexibility as a framework, first, its related components and indicators were identified. Next, a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate these components in contemporary Japanese housing layouts and to evaluate the gap between the current and expected conditions based on the users’ needs. Finally, some suggestions were presented to bridge this gap and optimize the housing layouts. The findings revealed that functional flexibility consists of two components of multifunctionality and convertibility. Multifunctionality was analyzed using one indicator, that is, type of combined functions. Convertibility was also evaluated using four indicators, that is, multipurpose rooms, movable partitions, movable shells, and transformable furniture. The evaluation of indicators showed that Japanese housing layouts had multifunctional spaces, multipurpose rooms, and changeable elements, leading to functional flexibility. Besides, several solutions, including the type of layouts and architectural elements, were suggested to optimize functional flexibility.

Evaluation of sustainable schoolyards: “Design your schoolyard” workshops with a practice-based process in Muratpaşa, Antalya

2023-03-30T00:47:11+03:00

Design of the learning spaces is not only the field of the design discipline. Alternative learning processes such as outdoor environmental learning underline an emerging field that needs to be discussed with interdisciplinary lenses. This study stands in between design, environmental learning, and sustainability. Environmental learning brings the concepts of learning outside and in daily life by sharing and experiencing the knowledge. Educational spaces cannot be handled with traditional design principles anymore. Designers should start approaching the learning spaces not only with aesthetical or spatial values; and start to include curriculum design, sustainable design, and alternative learning processes into this multifaceted process. Designers and education managers should also interpret this “in-between” field with practice-based studies. Therefore, this study is critical because it creates a practice-based process for creating a sustainable design-based curriculum that empowers students to design their schoolyards. The pilot study combines curriculum design, spatial design, and learning about sustainability themes, under “Design Your Schoolyard” online workshops and it includes multi-stakeholders to the process. On the other hand, field research evaluates the schoolyards of the pilot study area, Muratpaşa, Antalya, which aims to expose the condition of schoolyards for outdoor learning. The research first; aims to open a new discussion on schoolyard design in the education and design field. This issue should be handled on a national level by blending various disciplines. Second, it aims to put forward an experience-based process between alternative learning, learning about sustainability, and schoolyard design -for future studies.

Evaluation of the changing urban soundscape in Turkey during Covid-19 pandemic through online survey

2023-01-20T04:45:47+03:00

The disease caused by the virus named Covid-19 and declared as a pandemic has shortly spread worldwide. Measures taken during the pandemic has exceedingly affected the acoustic environment of the cities. Sounds are a part of the huma activities in the cities; therefore, they contain information regarding city life. It is possible to understand the positive or negative impacts of the pandemic on social life by analyzing the acoustic life throughout the process. Within the scope of the study, the impacts of the changing social life in Turkey on the city acoustic were studied physically, socially, and psychologically with the soundscape approach. The study conducted accordingly is designed to understand how the Covid-19 process affected the urban soundscape. For this reason, the focus was on the answers given to the participants on their level of pleasantness with the acoustical environment before and during the pandemic, the change in the sound sources they heard, and the sounds they were pleased to hear during the pandemic. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the study was conducted by using an online Internet survey with 690 participants across Turkey. In addition to the cities with high participation in the study and a general evaluation was made. At the end of the study, it was seen that the change in sound environment pleasantness was more pronounced, especially in the cities of high population density. In general, the audibility of nature-based sounds increased and nature-based sounds were found to be pleasing during the pandemic.

From actualization to virtuality: Differentiations of becoming in Bryan Cantley’s critical architectural representation

2023-01-20T04:45:56+03:00

The act of knowing the architectural representation which is controlled by the ratio centralism of the classical subject, prevents the representation from exploring the potentials of experiencing the event and creating the concept and difference. This study purposes to offer the issue that transforms architectural representation from knowing to designing may be revealed through the differentiations of becoming in the virtual space and non-human human comprehensions. The study deciphers Bryan Cantley’s becoming-representation atmosphere in the context of experiencing the field of possibilities of imagination and critical creativity by remaining in the event. The methodology of this research area experience to dismantle the case study of Cantley’s atmosphere with the posthuman critical theory of Rosi Braidotti and the differentiation theory of Gilles Deleuze, as the enablers of imagining, escaping from the historicist linearity and creating conceptual becoming-representations. In line with these methods, the relationalities and probabilities of Cantley’s conceptual creations such as mechudzu, post-liminal fuzz, enantiomorphistic inversions and third-space with his representation design atmosphere are deciphered. Contribution of this study for the medium of architecture is thought as attracting attention to the issues which are creating representation lexicons, differentiations by the encounters in virtual space, becoming-grab among all the humans with non-humans and leaving the linearity of prediction for being able to open the field of possibilities about becoming-representation.

Minding the city: A case study on the new conceptualizations of human experience in the built environment

2023-03-30T00:47:13+03:00

The study intends to mind the city by taking the information gathered through the senses and processed in the human brain as the primary concern in understanding the human experience in the built environment. This refreshing approach deals with human behavior, perception, cognition, sensation, and emotion that requires a well-defined conceptual framework. Therefore, as the study’s primary objective, minding the city investigates the conceptualizations based on human evolutionary cognitive tendencies: biophilia, bilateral symmetry, mirror neurons, pareidolia, proxemics, thigmotaxis, curvilinearity and rectilinearity. The human experience is investigated, considering it as an individual human self, interpersonal human beings, and through human-built environment interactions and human- nature interactions. The paper was designed as qualitative research employing a case study strategy to develop explanatory and exploratory empirical inquiry. The conceptualizations were studied through fieldwork using observational measurements, mapping techniques, and the declaration of participants’ own experiences. The fieldwork was conducted through a serial workshop entitled ‘Minding the city: Bring your brain into the built environment’ in İstanbul and Famagusta in 2019. As the output of the study, the visual and verbal representations of conceptualizations and urban codes were presented and discussed with the related literature. Ultimately, the acquired knowledge applied to a theory-building structure expands the theory of human experience investigated through the idea of minding the city. In sum, the study presented evolutionary aspects of human experience in a new way by identifying generalizable patterns, presented as urban codes, occurring in the daily experience of individuals and groups.

Changing the identity of a place by changing street names: The process of renaming the streets of Üsküdar between 1927-1934

2023-03-30T00:47:15+03:00

Street names are part of our everyday lives. People constantly encounter street signs during their daily practices. Their visible position in the urban landscape makes street names suitable to use as visual/linguistic signifiers of cultures, histories, values, and ideologies. Renaming streets is one of the first actions of the new regimes to create their ideological hegemony in the territories they rule. It is essential to resolve the conflicts between urban memory and the sovereign’s history to legitimize their geographical claims by changing anything that does not match with their mental constructs in the urban landscape. This article provides a critical discourse analysis of the relationship between space, place, identity, urban memory, and street names by examining the alteration of street names in Üsküdar, a district of Istanbul, between 1927 and 1934. Even though Üsküdar was one of the regions where the minorities lived exceedingly in the Ottoman period, in the current Üsküdar identity, there are only a few traces left of its former inhabitants. Hence, in terms of redefining identity, Üsküdar can be considered a prominent example compared to the other regions the minorities lived in Istanbul. The primary source for this inquiry is Osman Nuri Ergins İstanbul Şehri Rehberi (Istanbul City Guide), which was published in 1934. Archival documents and newspaper articles about street name changes are also used in this research. The relationship between socio-political transformation in Üsküdar and changes in urban toponymy is investigated in this study.

The role of usability in the technology acceptance of projection-based user-interfaces

2022-11-05T12:06:13+03:00

This paper aims to discover the role of usability on the technology acceptance of projection-based user-interfaces in the kitchen context. VUX–Virtual User Experience; a system consisting of a hob, a hood and a dishwasher machine controlled by a projection-based user-interface, was chosen as the product. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was chosen as the theoretical frame. A two-phase study was conducted with 30 participants based on the functional prototype.

The first phase consisted of a structured user-test in a showroom kitchen environment in which participants were requested to complete pre-defined tasks. The second phase was a UTAUT questionnaire including 32 questions organized in 9 sections. Content analysis and statistical analysis were used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data from the UTAUT questionnaire.

It has been found that although the projection-based user-interface has a great role on technology acceptance based on usability, most of the users defined their behavioral intention to use VUX by their attitude toward using technology, experience, and anxiety in the kitchen context. In terms of user-interface design, it has been found that the design characteristics of the user-interface, such as form of icons, color and shape, did not have a significant effect on the technology acceptance of VUX. In terms of usability, errors and safety concerns were found to be the most effective factors in the acceptance of technology by determining the usability of the system.

Quarrying and construction operations in Aeolian Larisa with a reference to “building technology” and “building economy”

2022-11-08T16:55:11+03:00

Building technology and building economy concepts are relatively new and important research subjects in archaeology. While the term “building technology” refers to technical processes and methods of construction operations such as exploitation, transportation, processing and fine dressing; “building economy” focuses on costs and consumption of resources or quantification of labor forces and costs, etc. Either way main purpose is to apprehend the background of the operations. These studies involve several researchers from various disciplines and each of them contribute according to their expertise, which ease to enrich these research areas. Quarries are initial points of construction operations and they provide useful information regarding building technology and building economy. In Larisa, observations on quarrying and as well as construction processes proceed cordially with the ongoing architectural field surveys which are being conducted since 2010. Observations have showed that every rock cluster in and around the Larisa settlement have been used as a natural resource material for the constructions. More than a hundred traces of stone extraction have been identified and have been documented through drawings and photographs. Besides, most of them have been manually recorded by a handheld GPS and were gathered in a detailed catalogue, according to their places. Thus, the applied method and the entire quarrying process can clearly have been identified through these traces. According to these marks, it is understood that levering and splitting were principal stone exploiting methods that were used in Larisa which have been applied by the entire Mediterranean & Mesopotamian civilizations throughout the centuries.

A studio exercise designed to question the concept of originality: An approach to research in architectural education

2022-12-06T09:36:21+03:00

What are the possible grounds for practicing ‘research’ in design studio? Design studios have a tendency to assume that the ‘research’ and ‘design’ happen independently and they contemplate each other intuitively. In this paper, this assumption will be challenged through presenting and discussing a year-long studio exercise for a house design in the second-year level, where ‘researching others’ design work’ is defined as the fundamental component of the given design problem, as dominant over other usual ones such as program, scenario, function, context, etc. The objective is defined as a quest into the diverse and variable interrelations of practices of design and research, in which, not only the design process is defined in majorly research-based means, but research is also redefined as something designed in a highly individual and subjective act. In this frame, the paper will largely discuss the notion of ‘originality’ as a prominent topic in architectural design and design teaching, through questioning the varying means of referring as design actions; such as ‘quoting’, ‘adapting’ or ‘appropriating’; or even generating a ‘cover’, a ‘sample’ or a ‘variation’ in design studios.

An analytical approach to identify design criteria for reducing earthquake risks in residential interiors

2022-12-29T18:49:10+03:00

A vital measure to prevent earthquake risks is to retrofit existing buildings or design and construct resistant structures. After increasing the earthquake resistance of buildings, measures taken in building interiors comes to the forefront. In the scope of this study, comprehensive analytical research is conducted to identify the criteria for reducing earthquake risks in the design of residential interior spaces. Reviewing the literature of both national and international publications using the keywords and phrases "Earthquake and Interior Design" "Earthquake and Furniture Design", "Earthquake and Architectural Design", “Earthquake and Materials”, “Precautions for Earthquake Damages”, “Earthquake Psychology” is employed as a method. In the next step, criteria extracted from the content analysis are categorized, analyzed and evaluated systematically. Together with this research, a set of measures to reduce earthquake risks for the interior design of residential interiors was presented. It also includes risks and strategies related to categorized interior elements, which designers can use in the design process. Many people could be inside residences, where most daily life is spent during an earthquake. This describes the study's widespread impact. The design criteria presented are expected to be a source that includes a set of categorized data with a holistic approach to reduce risks, leading to safe design, and ensuring up-to-date continuity of knowledge for future designs.