Aysu AKALIN - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Aysu AKALIN

Since the 1980s through creating image dependent products, advertisement industry of housing in m... more Since the 1980s through creating image dependent products, advertisement industry of housing in metropolitan towns of Turkey has been in the service of new kind of tastes through making collective identities promising "a different lifestyle". Either images in the forms of the past or images of different cultures have been constructed and offered to claim a better future in the social network of consumption. Some of the types, housing typologies and even some architectural terminologies have been consumed. The condition of house production, however are formed by the merchant builders, mostly with little involvement of architects. Most of the architects in housing business try to satisfy the state, private enterprises and the customer, as they behave according to their intents. Architects have almost no chance to design in their own preferences. In fact, it is the era of flexible accumulation and consumer society is ready to digest what will be offered to them. In the case no architectural identity claimed to the consumer, the ones which has some connections to the history or look different than what the people have would be most likely to be preferred. As a result, by different social classes of a society, historical, traditional and cultural values might be commodified in the name of creating an identity. In that context, the paper has focused on the interpreted image of the single family mass housing itself. As suggested in this paper, high income group members are not the only ones who are impressed through these images, but middle income consumers can also be influenced by the appearances some of which criticized by architects as collage, kitsch, etc. The paper presents the differences and similarities between the perceptions of the architects and the middle income consumer groups.

Politeknik dergisi, Mar 1, 2008

... Çalışmalarında, Ankara Siteler sanayi böl-gesinde bulunan ve mobilya üretimi yapan orta ve bü... more ... Çalışmalarında, Ankara Siteler sanayi böl-gesinde bulunan ve mobilya üretimi yapan orta ve bü-yük ölçekli işletmeler araştırma kapsamına alınmış, iş-letmelerin ürettikleri ve montajını yaptıkları iç mekân donatı elemanlarına yönelik olarak müşterilerinden önemli düzeyde ...

Although industrial buildings are important indicators of a country's socioeconomic history, they... more Although industrial buildings are important indicators of a country's socioeconomic history, they often lose their functions due to rapid technological developments. The main subject of this article discussed is Trabzon Tekel Tobacco Factory which is built in two stages between the years 1951 to 1965 that is an industrial heritage and an important element of collective memory. According to the documents its function has been terminated in the 1990s but wanted to be revived in 2006 with a competition project in order to sustain the collective memory. However, during the competition and implementation phase, the building was completely demolished and rebuilt. In a world which we tend to create by destroying, it is expressed that we cannot ensure the sustainability of collective memory by demolishing the original and later building the exact copy of it at the same place or in another place.

Fakülte dergisi, 1993

In the study, the example of Ankara Kale Onu Koyunpazari Slope is examined for the purpose of rep... more In the study, the example of Ankara Kale Onu Koyunpazari Slope is examined for the purpose of repairing and preserving the historical architecture against the physical corrosion while the necessary steps to take to repair corroded structures without compromising originality and damaging historical fabric are discussed, laying emphasis on the need to do this operation within the scope of a project.

gazi university journal of science, Jul 5, 2013

This study aims to see the local residents of Kahramanmaraş who are not in the design profession,... more This study aims to see the local residents of Kahramanmaraş who are not in the design profession, to know how they find connotative meanings in house styles concerning different cultures and to see how these meanings differ according to socio-demographic qualities. It is hypothesized that foreign examples would be preferred as a 'social status' indication compare to the domestic ones which might be considered as 'warm'. Regarding this, a total o f 102 respondents, c o m p o s e d o f middle-aged people (25 female, 26 male) and students (25 female, 26 male) have evaluated the façades of 12 houses through using five-point semantic differential scales under four headings: Familiarity, Impressiveness, Complexity and Liking. The results have shown that different styles with different forms, elements and materials have been evaluated differently by the respondent groups. While the most impressive foreign vernacular examples were defined as the 'social status' indication, the most familiar local vernacular examples were indicated as the 'warmest' house façades. Amongst these results, it was also noted that the students a p p r e c i a t e d the foreign vernacular examples and found them attractive than the middle age respondents.

Middle Eastern Studies, Jul 1, 2011

Politeknik dergisi, Dec 1, 2007

Middle Eastern Studies, Nov 1, 2011

... DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2011.621758 Nuray Ozaslan &amp; Aysu Akalin ... K. Yildirim and... more ... DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2011.621758 Nuray Ozaslan &amp; Aysu Akalin ... K. Yildirim and A. Akalin, &#x27;Problems Related to the Dimensions of Curved Areas in the Main Living ... EE Özdemir, A. Akalın and K. Yıldırım, &#x27;Historical Traditional and Cultural Values are Commodified to Create ...

International Journal of Art and Design Education, Feb 1, 2009

In this paper the designing products of BA Sophomore students of architecture in Tehran Universit... more In this paper the designing products of BA Sophomore students of architecture in Tehran University as an instance of objective model for accessing conceptual model of design process were investigated. The result of the case study indicated that mutation in objective of design process enhanced student creativity and in subjective of design process as we move away from perception to verification of design process, the role of the unconscious becomes less significant while that of the conscious become more significant. To this end the instructors' concern on the quality of improving the novice learners' designing ability and considering the suggested model in order to evaluate the designing improvement is quite necessary and indispensible.

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Mar 1, 2012

Open House International, Sep 1, 2007

The intent and aim of the research was to look at a particular house type i.e. a terraced house w... more The intent and aim of the research was to look at a particular house type i.e. a terraced house with four floors, which is one of the popular designs commonly used in the last ten years in mass housing projects in Turkey. There are four alternatives of the type related with the cross-sectional relationship with the ground floor level. Emphasis was placed upon the "semi-cellar type" assuming that even though the level of residential satisfaction gradually increases with the possibility of interpreting the use of the open-plan floor space, and by proposing new design elements to create more adaptable and flexible spaces, the users may still experience dissatisfaction with designs where the space cannot be revised. With the use of a questionnaire, participants judged their own house as a whole and evaluated its uses for different functions and activities, complained in respect of changes required, and finally outlined their plans for the future. Despite the high level of satisfaction with having a garden (a unique characteristic in apartment-saturated Ankara), the aspect of dissatisfaction mostly referred to was the kitchen-garden relationship (or lack thereof). The residents, especially the older ones, were generally dissatisfied with the multi-storey design of their house. They prefer to remain on the backyard level without changing floors in different seasons. Besides, the users spending the longest time in the house complained more than the others and the people spending variable time in the house stated that they preferred to change the floors in different seasons. As compared to larger families, the smaller families were more likely to change floors.

Uluslararası hakemli tasarım mimarlık dergisi, 2020

Öz: İnsanlığın ortak mirasını temsil eden UNESCO Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne kabul edilebilmek için, ... more Öz: İnsanlığın ortak mirasını temsil eden UNESCO Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne kabul edilebilmek için, kültür varlıklarının Olağanüstü Evrensel Değer (OED) ölçütlerine uyumunun yanı sıra, 'özgünlük' ve 'bütünlük' değerlerinin de korunmuş olması şartları aranmaktadır. Dünya mirası statüsü kazanıldıktan sonra ise, kültürel miras alanlarının 'özgünlük' ve 'bütünlük' değerlerinin sürdürülmesi zorunluluğu söz konusudur. Amaç: Bu çalışmada; 1994 yılında Dünya Miras Listesi'ne giren Safranbolu'da, koruma adı altında gerçekleştirilen 'yenileme' uygulamaları, 'özgünlük' ve 'bütünlük' bağlamında ele alınmaktadır. Yöntem: Safranbolu Eski Çarşı bölgesindeki kentsel yenileme uygulamaları üç farklı başlıkta ele alınmıştır; tescilli yapılara yönelik kısmi ya da bütüncül rekonstrüksiyon uygulamaları (A), dokuya ölçeğiyle uyum gösteren tescilsiz yapıların geleneksel konutları taklit ederek değiştirilmesi (B) ve dokuya ölçeğiyle uyum gösteren tescilsiz yapıların yıkılarak, geleneksel konutları taklit eden bir tasarım diliyle yeniden inşa edilmesi (C) Bulgular: Kentsel koruma ve restorasyon adı altında, 'özgünü yok et, kopyalayarak yeniden üret' ve 'özgünü taklit ederek üret' şeklinde gerçekleşen kentsel yenileme yaklaşımıyla tanıdık görünen ancak özgünlüğünden endişe duyulan örnekler, Safranbolu'nun olağanüstü evrensel değerlerini olumsuz etkilemektedir. Sonuç: Hiçbir yapının bir diğerini tekrar etmediği ve her birinin yerin bağlamı ile şekillendiği bir kültür ortamında, özgünün zarar gördüğü ve bir takım tekrarlarla 'taklit' edildiği örnekler, Dünya Miras Listesi'ndeki bu yerleşimin özgünlük ve bütünlük değerlerini ve dolayısı ile sürekliliğini riske atan bir tehlike olarak değerlendirilmiştir.

International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Nov 15, 2018

The aim of this work is to examine pre-architects' use of metaphorical reasoning as a tool for de... more The aim of this work is to examine pre-architects' use of metaphorical reasoning as a tool for design problem solving exercises in an unfamiliar environment. It is to improve their sense of place, which helps to identify and capture design concepts, as well as define goals and requirements. Regarding the three metaphorical reasoning operations of Welling (analogy, combination and metaphor), a conceptual structure is formulated and context relation is discussed in the paper. In this context, for the studio education, fifteen students have been taken to Milan to clarify the experience of them at the shallowest level of insideness as an authentic sense of place and they have been asked to design a performance center, for any kind of activity that impressed them and to also provide for something lacking in the city. According to the student projects, authentic sense of place was high with the context related metaphorical approaches. Above all, it was even higher when both within domaindeep structures/metaphorical approaches were combined with the within domain-surface features/analogical approaches. The structural expression was in the foreground, however, when a student created his/her own context which was realized with the expressive use of technology and inventive forms. In that case the user is sensitive to space not to seek the meaning of it for those who live there but seeks the meaning desired to be experienced by the designer of the excellent technological expressions. The contextual architecture is contextualized in that sense, but our role as educators should be to teach our students the union of these two.

Journal of Selcuk University Natural and Applied Science, Oct 1, 2012

The purpose of the study was to examine the level of differences and similarities between senior ... more The purpose of the study was to examine the level of differences and similarities between senior students’ and lecturers’ perceptions. In the experiment conducted using the Lens Model method, 142 senior architecture students from two universities having different methods of teaching in terms of architectural studio teaching were included. 36 students from Selcuk University Architecture Department Konya trained by academic architects (who almost never take part in application processes) and 35 students and their 20 famous and rewarded architects as project coordinators from Gazi University Architecture Department Ankara were included in the research. The project coordinators were shown the images of 45 buildings, and they were asked to rate the cognitive properties of global aesthetic , ‘complexity’, ‘stimulation’, and ‘familiarity’. To find out which physical cues gave rise to these cognitive concepts, the same images were scored by an independent group of judges from faculty of architecture (n=10), and they were asked to evaluate, for each image, 34 physical cues. According to the results of the analysis, though the students’ from different universities perceptions on visual image judgements was similar for ‘stimulation’, and ‘familiarity’, they were differentiated in global aesthetic evaluations and in global aesthetic - complexity relationships. It was shown that the lecturers and their students were agree on global aesthetic evaluations and the relation to the complexity . However, the students from the other university, differentiated from the lecturers and their students. As a result, it can be said that design studio coordinators have an effect on students regarding images’ global aesthetic evaluations .

Politeknik dergisi, Jun 1, 2008

The article proposes an analysis of the role of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missi... more The article proposes an analysis of the role of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) during the late Ottoman and the early nationalist (Republican) Turkey and focusses especially on the ABCFM organization and the role of Protestant missionaries, which they succeeded in establishing autonomous schools, hospitals, clinics, orphanages, lodgings and ateliers not only in the capitals, but also in provinces. The American Board began evangelism among Armenians, and the education and the social services became part of the Protestant movement in the Near East. Following efforts to Christianize the nations through evangelism, in the mid of 19th century, Merzifon (Marsovan) province was chosen due to its location in the middle of Anatolia and Merzifon Anatolia College was designed as an important ‘station’ in order to support the American missionary movements. Then, between the years 1886 and 1938, ABCFM built strong connections with Anatolia College in Merzifon to gain a very important strategic position. In the context of the First World War, the function of the Anatolia College buildings has changed for different aims; the military used these buildings as the Artillery Regiment. After the war the ABCFM’s network broke down but its strong contribution to present education in Turkey is inevitable. The site as a heritage is still an active part of the city’s cultural life with some existing buildings of ABCFM supporting culture and education. For instance Merzifon Anatolia College Hospital is used by Merzifon High School for Science, Merzifon Anatolia College Library and Museum Building are used by Amasya University as Vocational School Administration Building. The other College buildings have been used by the Ministry of National Defense for many years. The North College, for instance, served as Non-commissioned Officer School during the First World War. In this study, cultural sustainability of the Merzifon Anatolia College buildings each constructed with different aims and various stories has been investigated. As a method, the historical background of the site and the buildings has been revealed through archive documents and interviews have been held with historians. A detailed field search has been carried out to document the current status and usages of the buildings. Protecting aura with the function of the building thus its authenticity is an opinion that is supported by many theorists but when the function is no longer valid, sustainability of aura is in danger. In this sense, the present usage of the Anatolia College buildings for educational purposes might be the indication that the aura of the past is still culturally sustained.

Mimarlık Fakültesi dergisi, Dec 15, 2015

Received her M.A. in restoration from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and Ph.D. in arch... more Received her M.A. in restoration from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Manchester, School of Architecture. Research interests include environmental psychology, user satisfaction in connection with the visual perception of space, flexibility in mass housing, wayfinding, image sensation and perception, corporate image, and computer-aided architectural design.

African Journal of Business Management, Apr 4, 2011

Housing production in Turkey is mostly completed by merchant builders, with little or no involvem... more Housing production in Turkey is mostly completed by merchant builders, with little or no involvement of architects. Those architects who do function in the housing industry try to satisfy state authorities, private enterprises and the customer, behaving according to these clients' intentions. This, in turn, succeeds because of the current era of flexible accumulation where a consumer society is ready to digest whatever is offered. That is, buildings that have some resemblance to historical examples or look different to what people would normally prefer are chosen by consumers. As a result, different social classes of society commodify historical, traditional and cultural values in the name of creating an identity. In this context, this essay focuses on the image of the house itself and its interpretations within the post-1980s Turkish residential housing industry. It shows that architectural styles, typologies, names and terminology are freely used according to the market desires throughout the two case studies. The housing development called Kemer Country is a clear example of the reconstruction of a traditional Turkish neighborhood (mahalle) but there is no substance behind their facades, it is only an illusion. While Kemer Country creates a fake traditional mahalle outside of the city center of Istanbul, the developers of the Bosphorus City housing development claim to have rebuilt a significant part of Istanbul's topography, as well as its unique architecture, outside of the city. This paper reveals that the architecture of the residential developments in post-1980s Turkey is lead by market forces and consumption-oriented construction rather than artistic, cultural or historical assets.

Mimarlık Fakültesi dergisi, Sep 25, 2019

Major research interests include; adaptive reuse of architectural heritage, industrial heritage, ... more Major research interests include; adaptive reuse of architectural heritage, industrial heritage, urban conservation and architectural design in the historic environment. esraozkan@gazi.edu. tr.