Merging boundaries, techniques and experiences

Abstract

An international urban design workshop was conducted with students from a US and a Turkish Universities for 15 days in a waterfront village on Bosporus, Istanbul Bosphorus, a crooked and curved strait dividing the city into two, has traditionally been used mostly for enjoying scenery and nature with its location away from the main trade docks and industrial areas concentrated around the old city center, namely historic peninsula. The strait housed small settlements until the 18th century, during when the royal family started populating the coast with palaces and summer mansions and private gardens and celebrated various festivities. It was a special ritual (Hamadeh, 2009) to experience mansions (yali’s, which are perched on the very edge of the bank with boat houses and access) and palaces, mostly timber-frame ornamental structures, and gardens while sailing on the Bosphorus. Later, public spaces, coffee houses, fountains and parks were added to the waterfront development, improving the public’s participation in the pastoral culture and transforming these small settlements into connected villages. The pleasure of experiencing the Bosphorus was shared with the whole public through songs, poems, novels and paintings. There were even traditional evening excursions and singing on the boats –caiques- on Bosphorus. Hence, for centuries, Bosphorus has been a socializing space and a sensual experience for many. Despite the fact the quality of the built environment and the way of living has dramatically changed due to the spatial and social transformation in the following centuries, the yalı’s and some other contemporary buildings added have continued the dwelling tradition of close proximity to the water. On the other hand, Bosphorus, where used to be a meditative place in the past, has become a natural part of the hectic urban life and architecture. Focusing on spatial experience, the students attempted to understand and propose solutions to urban disconnect in the urban fabric especially between historic waterfront and inland village. The workshop provided an opportunity for each student to formalize his/her opinion of the place based on individual filters and sensual experiences. This method helped to identify a rich set of perceptual characteristics of the site and resulted in diverse and unique exploration and representation techniques. The workshop included a guided tour of the historic peninsula and a trip to various waterfront villages on the both sides of the strait, listening to historic and contemporary Turkish music, discussions, and readings such as Tschumi’s (1995) ideas on program, movement, and contradiction as well as Sancar’s article (2001) on the people’s attachment to place through lyrics. This paper consists of a brief description of the place in question, its changing daily life and architecture, and how the students responded to all of these through design and representation.