Portraits from the Chamber of Architects' History: Cengiz Bektaş

The Istanbul Metropolitan Branch of the Chamber of Architects continues its publishing efforts with veteran professionals who have contributed to the architectural environment in various ways and left their mark on the Chamber of Architects' work. The "Portraits from the History of the Chamber of Architects" series, which aims to compile and publish the experiences of our colleagues, along with documents and visuals, continues with the Cengiz Bektaş book.

This book, in which you will find information ranging from comprehensive interviews with Cengiz Bektaş conducted in various settings, articles written about Bektaş, presentations from the "Cengiz Bektaş Architecture" panel held at the Istanbul Metropolitan Branch of the Chamber of Architects on January 26, 2018, to Bektaş's extensive personal archive, traces his life full of architecture, poetry, and art.

In memory of Bektaş…

*

"Cengiz strived tirelessly to create and preserve the environment he was in. (...) What he dreamed of was the enlightenment and a beautiful future for Turkey. For this, he tried to do his part, without detaching himself from his people, together with people from every profession – through common effort and by spreading it to everyone."

Gönül Bektaş (From the Foreword)

"It's very natural for me, with the words you know and I know, but with the same words, you write a different poem, I write a different poem. You create something from nothing, and architecture is the same. Sand, iron, cement; everyone knows everything, there's nothing unknown, but still, you create something from nothing. I generally know that I wrote good poetry when I found good solutions in architecture. This is enough for me."