Demet Dincer | The University of New South Wales (original) (raw)

Papers by Demet Dincer

Buildings

The COVID-19 global health crisis has spatial implications concerning social isolation to control... more The COVID-19 global health crisis has spatial implications concerning social isolation to control the spread of the virus. The preventive measures require travelers to stay in mandatory quarantine for 14 days upon arrival from another country. Due to a shortage of government facilities, more hotels have started to function as quarantine facilities. This research focuses on quarantine hotels in Australia, as one of the first countries to implement an international border restriction, to evaluate the spatial needs of users and what see outcomes can be identified. By primarily focusing on hotel users’ well-being during the isolation period, this paper responds to an information gap regarding the quarantine hotel system by providing user opinions on the negative and positive factors affecting their well-being. A survey with multiple-choice and open-ended questionnaire items was conducted with 54 participants to investigate their experiences in quarantine hotels. Among the nine key sourc...

Given that the era we live in today is quite chaotic in terms of the multi-layered and fragmented... more Given that the era we live in today is quite chaotic in terms of the multi-layered and fragmented environment, it is necessary to develop a new way of ‘reading’. The dynamic nature of contemporary cities, as marked by their social and physical transformations, requires that we adjust our approach for a comprehensive understanding. In the field of architecture, Latour’s discourse points to the dynamic context of architectural production, going beyond a simplistic understanding of a building as an object or as a practice-based project. Designing a building is a collective action, and the building itself creates a ‘new context’ by virtue of the process governing its development and by its material existence. The relationship between an architect and a design is always dynamic, complex and cannot be simply reduced to human mastery over built form. Using an example of a hotel and its design process, this paper aims to discuss the act-shifts between humans and nonhumans. The discussion is...

Interiority, 2019

This article discusses Icelandic installation artist Olafur Eliasson’s approach of the threshold ... more This article discusses Icelandic installation artist Olafur Eliasson’s
approach of the threshold as a productive liminal space rather
than as a static boundary between the inside and the outside. Often
defined as the physical division between the interior and the exterior
in architecture, the authors argue that by looking at Eliasson’s works
in detail, the threshold’s inherent capacity of comprising a dynamic
dialogue between inside and outside where one is determined by the
other, unfolds. This paper proposes that designing the relationships
between inside and outside involves subtle renegotiations and
redefinitions of conventionalised notions of their boundaries and a
resultant emergence of new design strategies.

Eliasson designs thresholds in diverse ways that he analyses and
provokes the spatial associations between inside and outside, interior
and exterior. While in Eliasson`s work the categories of inside and
outside remain mutually exclusive, they physically co-exist at the same
time; deliberately refracted, juxtapositioned, connected or confounded
in an experimental yet rigorous approach that employs different scales
and common characteristics. Seventeen of his works are analysed and
grouped into four different threshold design strategies that result in an
object, an association, an event and an immersive space.

International Journal of Humanities and Management Sciences (IJHMS), 2017

Acknowledging how disciplinary boundaries helped us to generate definitions throughout the histor... more Acknowledging how disciplinary boundaries helped us to generate definitions throughout the history, today demands a new understanding of the world which is more about the relations rather than divisions. How to understand and acknowledge these relations and what outcomes are to be held by blurring the disciplinary boundaries have become significant in current studies. The approach, in fact, should not be considered only as the method but cogitated as a pivotal part of a research. This study is a critical inquiry on substantialist approach in general, with an aim to discuss `so-called` relational approaches. Comprehending the concept of “relational “and how to actualize a relational approach are crucial for a research, in which a relation might appear as an illusion rather than a connection. The problematique appears when the relations are defined beyond a relational context as if these relations happen outside of fundamentals- which is suggested to be named as “pseudo- relational” through this article. As an example, if we assume that there is a limit separating the fundamentals x and y from each other, both x and y stand as the reason of the other one`s becoming. If relation is defined as a distinctive entity besides x and y, it would only appear as relational while it is essentially substantialist. In other words, when the relation between x and y is considered as a third entity, relation stands in a sort of eclecticism. That sort of inquiries are interpreted as relational, however, they should be addressed as substantialist or outlined as “pseudo-relational”. Hence, what is meant by pseudo-transactional or pseudo-relational is a sort of illusion in which a thing is not what it really is. Within this point of view, this paper is to inquire transactional (relational) approach versus to substantialist one, referring to critical theories in regard to a trans-disciplinary understanding.

The limits in architecture are on debate in recent years, since architecture has been considered ... more The limits in architecture are on debate in recent years, since architecture has been
considered as a substantial entity. Inquiries using substantialist approach, however, are varied where substantialist approach emerged more into a sort of eclecticism. However, it is possible to inquire limits in architecture through a transactional point of view. Besides, if we assume that there is a limit between x and y, x stands as the reason of y`s becoming. In this regard, limit cannot be positioned outside a relational structure. If we define the relationship as a separate entity from x and y, it may only appear as transactional but it is, in fact, actually focused on a substantialist consideration. Besides, in case of acknowledging that there is a relation between x
and y as a third entity, pseudo-transactional approach emerges, which is also substantialist. For this reason, this research is to inquire limits in architecture according to transactional approach versus to substantialist one by referring to critical theories. Blurring, as an act, seeks to undermine the well-defined limits in architecture within frequently referred notions and binaries, where an “in-between” space emerges. In order to understand the term “blurring” for an architectural inquiry of limits, three exemplars are chosen, defining three acts: altering, transforming and transgressing. When a (substantialist) limit is altered, transformed and/or transgressed by blurring, it would provide a dynamic consideration, suggesting a new way of thinking in architecture.

Buildings

The COVID-19 global health crisis has spatial implications concerning social isolation to control... more The COVID-19 global health crisis has spatial implications concerning social isolation to control the spread of the virus. The preventive measures require travelers to stay in mandatory quarantine for 14 days upon arrival from another country. Due to a shortage of government facilities, more hotels have started to function as quarantine facilities. This research focuses on quarantine hotels in Australia, as one of the first countries to implement an international border restriction, to evaluate the spatial needs of users and what see outcomes can be identified. By primarily focusing on hotel users’ well-being during the isolation period, this paper responds to an information gap regarding the quarantine hotel system by providing user opinions on the negative and positive factors affecting their well-being. A survey with multiple-choice and open-ended questionnaire items was conducted with 54 participants to investigate their experiences in quarantine hotels. Among the nine key sourc...

Given that the era we live in today is quite chaotic in terms of the multi-layered and fragmented... more Given that the era we live in today is quite chaotic in terms of the multi-layered and fragmented environment, it is necessary to develop a new way of ‘reading’. The dynamic nature of contemporary cities, as marked by their social and physical transformations, requires that we adjust our approach for a comprehensive understanding. In the field of architecture, Latour’s discourse points to the dynamic context of architectural production, going beyond a simplistic understanding of a building as an object or as a practice-based project. Designing a building is a collective action, and the building itself creates a ‘new context’ by virtue of the process governing its development and by its material existence. The relationship between an architect and a design is always dynamic, complex and cannot be simply reduced to human mastery over built form. Using an example of a hotel and its design process, this paper aims to discuss the act-shifts between humans and nonhumans. The discussion is...

Interiority, 2019

This article discusses Icelandic installation artist Olafur Eliasson’s approach of the threshold ... more This article discusses Icelandic installation artist Olafur Eliasson’s
approach of the threshold as a productive liminal space rather
than as a static boundary between the inside and the outside. Often
defined as the physical division between the interior and the exterior
in architecture, the authors argue that by looking at Eliasson’s works
in detail, the threshold’s inherent capacity of comprising a dynamic
dialogue between inside and outside where one is determined by the
other, unfolds. This paper proposes that designing the relationships
between inside and outside involves subtle renegotiations and
redefinitions of conventionalised notions of their boundaries and a
resultant emergence of new design strategies.

Eliasson designs thresholds in diverse ways that he analyses and
provokes the spatial associations between inside and outside, interior
and exterior. While in Eliasson`s work the categories of inside and
outside remain mutually exclusive, they physically co-exist at the same
time; deliberately refracted, juxtapositioned, connected or confounded
in an experimental yet rigorous approach that employs different scales
and common characteristics. Seventeen of his works are analysed and
grouped into four different threshold design strategies that result in an
object, an association, an event and an immersive space.

International Journal of Humanities and Management Sciences (IJHMS), 2017

Acknowledging how disciplinary boundaries helped us to generate definitions throughout the histor... more Acknowledging how disciplinary boundaries helped us to generate definitions throughout the history, today demands a new understanding of the world which is more about the relations rather than divisions. How to understand and acknowledge these relations and what outcomes are to be held by blurring the disciplinary boundaries have become significant in current studies. The approach, in fact, should not be considered only as the method but cogitated as a pivotal part of a research. This study is a critical inquiry on substantialist approach in general, with an aim to discuss `so-called` relational approaches. Comprehending the concept of “relational “and how to actualize a relational approach are crucial for a research, in which a relation might appear as an illusion rather than a connection. The problematique appears when the relations are defined beyond a relational context as if these relations happen outside of fundamentals- which is suggested to be named as “pseudo- relational” through this article. As an example, if we assume that there is a limit separating the fundamentals x and y from each other, both x and y stand as the reason of the other one`s becoming. If relation is defined as a distinctive entity besides x and y, it would only appear as relational while it is essentially substantialist. In other words, when the relation between x and y is considered as a third entity, relation stands in a sort of eclecticism. That sort of inquiries are interpreted as relational, however, they should be addressed as substantialist or outlined as “pseudo-relational”. Hence, what is meant by pseudo-transactional or pseudo-relational is a sort of illusion in which a thing is not what it really is. Within this point of view, this paper is to inquire transactional (relational) approach versus to substantialist one, referring to critical theories in regard to a trans-disciplinary understanding.

The limits in architecture are on debate in recent years, since architecture has been considered ... more The limits in architecture are on debate in recent years, since architecture has been
considered as a substantial entity. Inquiries using substantialist approach, however, are varied where substantialist approach emerged more into a sort of eclecticism. However, it is possible to inquire limits in architecture through a transactional point of view. Besides, if we assume that there is a limit between x and y, x stands as the reason of y`s becoming. In this regard, limit cannot be positioned outside a relational structure. If we define the relationship as a separate entity from x and y, it may only appear as transactional but it is, in fact, actually focused on a substantialist consideration. Besides, in case of acknowledging that there is a relation between x
and y as a third entity, pseudo-transactional approach emerges, which is also substantialist. For this reason, this research is to inquire limits in architecture according to transactional approach versus to substantialist one by referring to critical theories. Blurring, as an act, seeks to undermine the well-defined limits in architecture within frequently referred notions and binaries, where an “in-between” space emerges. In order to understand the term “blurring” for an architectural inquiry of limits, three exemplars are chosen, defining three acts: altering, transforming and transgressing. When a (substantialist) limit is altered, transformed and/or transgressed by blurring, it would provide a dynamic consideration, suggesting a new way of thinking in architecture.