Forgotten Ancient Architecture - 2nd Edition

"Forgotten Ancient Architecture," a book prepared by Osman Murat Akan by writing and drawing some architectural styles and concepts that have taken place in our architectural journey spanning centuries but have gradually fallen into oblivion, was published by YEM Yayın.

Edited by Şener Çelik, with illustrations by Osman Murat Akan and illustration photographs by Lâl Yetki Seçkin, the book invites the reader to recall architectural elements, building types, and concepts that formed the cornerstones in the development of civilization throughout architectural history.
In his book, which draws from the fields of architectural history, art history, and archaeology, Murat Akan says the following regarding the preparation of this work:
"We forgot... We forgot architecture! Many architects, artists, or designers who shaped world architecture also forgot... We forgot stone, we forgot stone structures. We forgot the predominant elements of architecture.
While our eyes were dazzled by the blessings of technology, we pushed aesthetics to the background. We forgot columns, we forgot arches; we forgot stone bridges, vaulted structures. We forgot to design and implement structures integrated with nature, belonging to nature itself. We forgot towers; we forgot cisterns, amphitheatres, agoras, monumental stones, monumental gates.
We forgot to look at designed and implemented structures with elements to which we attributed artistic meaning. We forgot domes, flying buttresses, weight towers, stone-crafted fountain structures, cantilevers. We forgot structural art, artistic styles. We forgot rose windows, sculptures, bay windows, mosaic floors, reliefs, Baghdadis, friezes. Yet the styles were beautiful; instructive and distinctive...
While the forgotten styles and concepts from our architectural journey throughout centuries sadly smile at us from within the entire world history, acknowledging that some of them have completed their lives as structural elements, remembering these elements by combining them with new techniques means recreating the parallels that connect us to life with small touches that will revive the memories in the depths of our societal consciousness...
Architecture is only a part of life; it is not its purpose. Therefore, all aesthetic elements created, all art-valuable structures existing within the history of architecture, are tools created for us and made functional. What we need to do is to create the right concepts that can perpetuate these historical accumulations without being forgotten.
This work, while addressing this forgetfulness, also stands as a tribute to the artistic architectural elements that look at us from history. With a wish for an architecture where designers aim not to forget or cause to forget for the sake of innovation, but to keep alive..."

WHO IS OSMAN MURAT AKAN?
He received his bachelor's degree from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Interior Architecture. He completed his master's degree in Museum Management at Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters.
For many years, he undertook important works in the field of exhibition design. He became a solution partner for some institutions in design consultancy and management. Many of his designed and co-designed projects were brought to life.
His activities, designs, and applications carried out both domestically and abroad within the scope of his multi-legged project named "Cultural Heritage Platforms" attracted the attention of all stakeholders in the field of cultural heritage. With its content and scope, the platform became the most important and comprehensive structure and brand in this field worldwide.
Murat Akan transfers his knowledge to new generations through his courses "Exhibition Design" at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Interior Architecture, and "History of Istanbul Architecture" at Istanbul Kent University.
In addition to his first book, "The City Seeking Its Soul; Istanbul," which narrates the rise and fall periods in the social history of the city within the scope of architectural history, written with his experiences in various fields spanning many years, the author is also the author of "Lost History," which focuses on the prehistoric settlements of Istanbul, "Exhibition Design," which conceptually and structurally examines the designs applied in exhibition areas within the scope of his lectures at MSGSÜ, "Memory Spaces; Museums," which he curated in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and which features the implemented museum projects of many renowned national and international architects, and "Black and White Diyarbakır," which records extensive research and inventories of restoration and archaeological excavations in the cultural heritage area in Diyarbakır.