An Architect in Pursuit of Light: Erkut Şahinbaş

It is known that the 'center of influence' for architecture education, practice, and organization originating in Istanbul shifted to Ankara in the 1960s, and the first generation educated at METU played a significant role in this transformation, initiating a new era. Among the most important names in this first generation who stood out with their practitioner identity and also carried their educator identity in the early years of their career is Erkut Şahinbaş... After returning to Turkey, the architect, who transferred the architectural discernment and experience gained in Scandinavian countries to his work and the architectural education he provided at METU, continued his production entirely within architectural practice after the first decade.

The discernment acquired in Scandinavian countries, where architecture is considered one of the most respected professions and architectural culture is strong, provided the architect, who internalized Turkey's architectural environment and traditions, with the impetus to push boundaries and transform them into opportunities. Instead of directly transferring the West, he used it as a resource. The linguistic diversity and flexibility of his architecture, the modern, multi-layered, rich language of his structures, correspond, in Abdi Güzer's assessment, to "an underlying understanding within modernism that can preserve the language-independent values of architecture, rather than resorting to the universally accepted, anonymous, reduced patterns of modern language specific to Turkey."

His understanding of how vital light is in architecture in the Nordic countries creates the 'aura' of the interior space, which is surrounded/transformed/enriched by the conscious use of light in his buildings. Light, sometimes completely washing over the interior, sometimes subtly seeping into it, sometimes playing within the space, sometimes remaining fixed, makes time visible within the space. Erkut Şahinbaş's architecture is remembered more for the 'aura' of the space it creates than for its images. About the Book The largest award given within the scope of the National Architecture Exhibition and Awards organized by the Chamber of Architects in memory of Mimar Sinan is the "Mimar Sinan Grand Prize," awarded to an architect or collaborating architects for their lifetime achievements and services to architecture. In 2008, the Chamber of Architects began organizing the Sinan Awarded Architects Program to compile and present the works of valuable architects who received the Sinan Award to the architectural community. The program includes a panel evaluating the architect's activity and productions, an exhibition of their works, and the publication of a book covering all of it. The Sinan Awarded Architects Program for the 2012-2014 period was organized for Erkut Şahinbaş, the recipient of the Mimar Sinan Grand Prize. The Selection Committee brought Şahinbaş to the forefront with these words: "Mr. Erkut Şahinbaş has been awarded the Mimar Sinan Grand Prize for his multi-dimensional contributions to the architectural environment through his architectural practices, his educator identity, and his contributions to non-governmental organizations, for successfully representing Turkish architecture in international settings and in projects realized in different geographies, for serving as an example to subsequent generations with his humble personality and meticulous understanding of quality, and for sharing his practices and thoughts with the architectural community through exhibitions and publications." In addition to the panel we held in Ankara on April 12, 2013, as the Chamber of Architects, the exhibition titled "Adventure with Light: The Architecture of Erkut Şahinbaş" met its audience between April 12 and April 30, 2013; the exhibition continues to open in various cities in Turkey within a determined program. The book includes the evaluations and inter-discussions made by Esin Boyacıoğlu, Ali Cengizkan, Jale Nejdet Erzen, Abdi Güzer, İlhan Kural, and Ziya Tanalı on Şahinbaş and his architecture during the panel. Additionally, there is an article by Kemal Aran, who describes Şahinbaş's Doğramacızade Ali Paşa Mosque as an "iconoclastic" application and examines it from the perspective of mimesis theory. The buildings and projects brought together in the exhibition, where light is a constitutive element, form one of the interfaces of the book. Erkut Şahinbaş, one of the first architects to bring his lifetime productions together in a book as a visionary architect, published his book in 1998. The other interface of the book is an update of Şahinbaş's buildings and projects from 1998 to 2014.