Architectural History for the Twenty-first Century

Şevki Pekin, who has been thinking about and practicing architecture since the mid-1960s, has released his new book, Architecture History for the Twenty-First Century.

This new book by Şevki Pekin is a written work compiling his thoughts that have formed during the years he pursued architectural studies, without solely focusing on the promotion of projects and structures. Rather than being a history of architecture or a manifesto, this book is intended as a guide for the youth of our country, and it serves as a compilation of many perspectives that have emerged during his 50 years in the architectural profession.

Şevki Pekin, who states, "Change is inevitable if we want our thoughts and our work to endure," shares some prominent views in the book as follows:

“In the twenty-first century, architecture is not progressing along conventional paths, and the new world order, born from diversity, continues in an environment where some praise it and others criticize it, just like in eras before us. Today's structures and projects gain validity only through the development and building upon knowledge created and learned in the past, and architecture builds its own development on these roots. Against a conservative attachment to old structures, over the years, Medieval architecture gave way to Renaissance architecture, and then to many different architectural movements, and time has always created new architectural developments built upon one another using similar roots. In the continuation of this development process, modern architecture emerged almost more than a century ago, and new approaches based on computer usage have appeared since then and continue today. Thoughts and works created in the past, and those existing today, express an achievement, a development, only when evaluated within their own time frames. There are viewpoints and theories that time is not a measure, not a reality, but time is the only and most important measure that can change only within itself, not subject to personal control, and cannot be controlled. Although the power of thoughts and created architecture or a structure may be built upon very old roots, merely using knowledge from the past is not sufficient.
The power of every work can certainly be measured by its ability to endure within the measure of time and simultaneously not lose its value. Therefore, architectural works—that is, structures, projects, designs, or architectural thoughts—will only be valuable if they can resist time in the years to come, maintain their intellectual and conceptual connection with the past, and not get carried away by daily trends. Architecture endures through physical durability and intellectual durability, which complement each other in relation to time…”