States of Architecture

A new book from Aykut Köksal: States of Architecture

Aykut Köksal's latest book, States of Architecture, which contains his writings on architecture, has taken its place on the shelves. The book, which includes a selection from Köksal's new writings and the collection Karşı Notlar (Counter Notes), consists of the following sections: In Pursuit of Thought; Subjects, Situations; Urban Dynamics; The Impossibility of Preservation; Books.

These sections, which address architecture in different contexts, range from philosophy to the works of Turkey's leading architects, from imitation to preservation, from theater to contemporary art, to urban writings and texts evaluating architectural books.

In his article 'Architecture in Turkey' included in the book, Köksal says: "Today, architecture in Turkey has two distinct images: The first is the image reflected in architectural media, architectural publications, meetings, interviews, and awards: architect profiles published in magazines, architect monographs, anthologies, architectural interviews on television, awards given, architects who won 'grand prizes', etc. But there is also the image in the built environment. This is an image where we would struggle to use the word 'architecture'. There is no difference between the formal subjects (i.e., having 'architect' subjects on paper) of the built environment and the informal environment; both leave the knowledge production of architecture out to the same extent. Undoubtedly, this is not an incomprehensible situation for a society that has not completed its modernization process, because the integration of architectural knowledge into everyday life is only possible with modernization. There is not the slightest fluidity between the image presented by this anonymous context and the first image. It is as if they are two completely different production contexts. To this landscape, two more layers have been added, which have emerged in the last twenty years and quickly became part of the anonymous context of the second image: the architecture of non-places, ranging from office or residential towers to gated communities and shopping malls, and the 'so-called neo-Ottoman' architecture imposed by official politics, especially in public buildings. In short, this situation shows the point architecture has reached today, after a century-long Republican adventure."