URBAN MEDITATION / NAPKiN ARCHITECTURE: Forgetting and Redesigning Architecture

Õpituba

TAB-Klubi, Põhja pst 27a

Algus:12:00 12.09.2015

Lõpp:18:00 12.09.2015

Workshop by Huseyin Yanar, architect Ph.D. and co-founder of Orpheus North Architects studio. "The city was walking with me, beside me, as a part of me with the nature. Gradually urban meditation has been developed and constructed without a plan. I forgot architecture and later begin to redesign it slowly, piece by piece by not knowing the beginning and end..."

Preregistration: To participate to the workshop, please register till 10.09.2015 to helen@spinunit.eu
Size of the class: max 20 people, students, architects, artists, dancers, photographers, writers etc…

To find our own architecture, may be the first thing is to forget the architecture. It is essential to be witnessed to the transformations of many things after seeing architecture from the distance in life. During my walks, I was with the city. The city was walking with me, beside me, as a part of me with the nature. Gradually urban meditation has been developed and constructed without a plan. I forgot architecture and later begin to redesign it slowly, piece by piece by not knowing the beginning and end. The papers, pens, pencils, colours, blacks and whites that I used during the walks became important instruments. The cafe napkins has been one of the most effective and special tissues. We throw the napkins in general to the rubbish bins. Many people don’t give any value to them. But day by day, the characters of my napkins, the scale and identity of them changed and transformed. I began to draw lines and thoughts on them on the cafe tables. Those very sensitive, fragile, tiny and soft layers of napkins became actors of my journey among the others. I understood how they are valuable and how we have to look carefully to the small details in the repertoire of daily life with an open eye without judgement and valid aesthetic criteria. What I learned after all is that I was becoming a part of the city and the landscape. Whole collection become a mental map in many accidental routes of my walks.

Process: The workshop will begin with a hour presentation of a personal experience. I will tell about architecture, walking, meditation, forgeting architecture and coming back to it again. You will see some images of my recent drawings during walks. After that we will discuss about it all together. An then depending of our discussion we will form the workshop and decide what to do and how!

I like to draw and sometimes to paint. I am sure, many of the participants do. In the workshop space we will have a big map of Tallinn and sketch papers to speculate the city and nature beside it just to make an other kick off may be. You can also bring your own materials. To be honest, I have no idea about Tallinn. Although I live in Helsinki, only once, I visited the city in a rush. It was very short period of time. I went directly to the beautiful old part of the town. If you feel and want, you can also draw like me or you can find any medium and any way to express yourself, your idea/s for the workshop. In the end of the day, we will make a discussion briefly about the ideas and results.

In the following morning we come together again and evaluate the whole process. Mainly, I want you to know that you will follow an hour presentation in the beginning and the process will begin. Tallinn will be beside us, with us in some way but everything will go depending on our discussions and your personal interpretation about what we will discover and find in the end. However the process will go, we follow it. Actually we don’t want to know where we will go in the end and we don’t want to also know what we will discover as an individual person or as a team/s. The result and even the whole process will be unknown except the kick off presentation. This is the idea. Please come to join us to create an atmosphere and see the results and discuss and learn all together.

 

Huseyin Yanar, architect Ph.D. and co-founder of Orpheus North Architects studio. He is from Fine Arts Academy of Istanbul where he was an assistant professor. Has directed experimental studios in Oxford Brookes University and leading architectural and art schools in Finland. In 2013-2014 was an Associate Professor in Dong Eui University, South Korea.

‘Muotokuvia’ - ‘Portraits’ is his first book with a preface written by Juhani Pallasmaa. Yanar has written articles to Finnish and Turkish publications including Finnish Architectural Biennale selection 2011. He participated to exhibitions of ‘İstanbul Stream and Bridges’ in Finnish Fine Arts Academy and ‘Two Paths to Silence’ in MFA in 2014. He worked on Rhythm in Architecture. He has been a jury member in several competitions and got grants/awards in Turkey/Finland.