MURAL FABRIC
An Experimental Study in Search of the Co-existence Between Historical and the Contemporary Namely the Catalytic Emulsion of the Two by
Ugur Guvenc
M U R A L F A B R I C P R O J E C T B R I E F
In contemporary European cities, citadel walls remain not only as historical heritages need to be protected but also as architectural elements defining space in the urban milieu. Historical city wall identify a mural zone that is formed and deformed by their existence. This condition first transforms them into vertical surfaces - architectural objects and also support them to create a horizontal terrain – landscape. Thus, rather than being a border, boundary, limit or a series of constraints, city walls emerge as urban zones, where possible interaction between new cities and historic has been constructed. In the case of Ankara Citadel, mural zone covers two contrasting landscapes between the historic town and the still developing city: a green zone, where the wall exists as continuous, linear object and a brown, rocky landscape, where the wall is dissolved into a three dimensional terrain. However, in both settings, mural zone emerge as a potential urban environment in need of architectural programming. Recent restoration and rehabilitation projects around and within the citadel walls in Ankara caused their partial demolition and created irreversible structural damages. Continuation of similar interferences could easily cripple or destroy these architectural heritages. Therefore the objective of this studio is to write an architectural program that will help the projection of this unusual landscape. The proposals will be related to the transformation and/or protection of the existing landscape; and its architecture will be limited to a defined number of functions help the maintenance of the projected landscape. Therefore, we will study, research and discuss ‘Wall Architecture, in order to reach at the end, not a mere architectural product but also its spatiality.
D E S I G N A P P R O A C H I N I T I A L I D E A S & A N A L Y S E S
Mesmerizing, secluded rocky land... Hectic and congested urban life... On the one hand we have a bare land surrounded by the evidences of past civilizations and on the other hand we have a city invaded by the norms of our modern civilization. So, what to do with these two extremes ? The Mural Fabric unfolds the underlying prospect. Ankara citadel area has been surrounded by and left in the middle of the urban development processes over the past decades. Thanks to the historical importance and the morphological qualities of the mural terrain, the site has remained untouched and reached to our day as it is. However, it still faces new challenges by the municipalities. Many so-called revitalisation projects are offered every-day for the urbanisation of the area. The aim of the Mural Fabric is to investigate and propose new definitions for the regeneration of the architecture and landscape discourse of Ankara City while preserving the historical and morphological qualities of the mural terrain. To do so, a bilateral approach is employed in which the city and the Mural Terrain could influence each other both conceptually and formally. An attitude in which the historical and contemporary can co-exist and influence its surroundings like a catalytic emulsion.
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In order to achieve such a relation, the origins of the site and the city are further investigated by conducting micro and macroscale analyses. This approach brought up the question of ‘how the site and city became what they are now’. In Roman period, the city was defined by 12 Füle’s (neigbourhoods) both regionally and sociologically. The city was in its most prosperous era. After a period of economic recession, Center Rome lost its interest in Ankara. As a consequence and an urgent need, the Galatians, who was in charge at that time decided to build huge walls surrounding the city. The walls were not enough to protect from the attacks of those who heard Ankara was discarded. After many attacks, the walls were partially wracked. The emergence and destruction of the walls were the result of political and economic inabilities. Furthermore, in Republican era, Ankara was announced as the capital city of Turkey. In time, the city gained municipal and politic value. As a consequence, government and military buildings and areas began to be constructed. This situation created boundaires that we experience and cannot surpass in daily life. Moreover in recent years, with the excessive construction of commercial and office areas in huge boxes further increased that boundary effect. The metropolitan life in Ankara nowadays is highly dependent on the close relationship of politic and economic realities. Given the knowledge of the past and present, the wall once again presents itself as a stimulative element to generate and regulate the program. In Mural Fabric, metaphorical walls pass through the mural terrain, Roman Bath and the Augustus Temple and extract the knowledge to redefine and regenerate the architecture and landscape discourse of the city of Ankara.
The collagework at the top shows the foreseen interwoven qualities of the site and the city. The mindmap at lower-left unfolds the analytical layers of references found both in ancient and recent history. The final collagework at lower-right is a representative of the selective coding of possible axes passing through historical monuments and areas. With the knowledge extracted from history, the architecture and landscape discourse of Ankara city is predicted to be redefined and regenerated.
C I T Y S C A L E I N T E R P R E T A T I O N S & C O D I N G
Three axes are foreseen to redefine the architecture and landscape discourse of the city by selective coding of historical areas and monuments which are the Mural Terrain, Roman Bath and Augustus Temple.
The foreseen result of the selective coding in the Mural Terrain is the duplication of rocks and green areas of site and propagation of the pattern through the city of Ankara.
D E C O N S T R U C T I O N
Walls disintegrate with reference to the morphology of rocks
Disintegrated parts
Propagation within the site
Formation of the new entity with rocks and green areas
P R O C E S S E S O F T H E W A L L S O N T H E S I T E
Propagation through the city
L O C A L I S E D D E C O N S T R U C T I O N P R O C E S S
Localised deconstruction process shows the stages of a metaphorical wall recognising the slope and the morphology of a site. The metaphorical wall in this case is interpreted as a monolithic green mass. After coding the knowledge of the site, wall deconstructs itself and scatters the green masses to nearby bare land. Afterwards, scattered green parts hold on to their adjacent rock formations and form a new entity consisting of rocks and green areas. This new entity is soon to define the landscape discourse of the entire city.
V A R I A T I O N S I N M O R P H O L O G Y & P R O J E C T I O N S O F R O C K S I N C I T Y
P E R S P E C T I V E S W I T H I N T H E S I T E
E L E V A T I O N S W I T H I N T H E S I T E
S I T E S C A L E & C I T Y S C A L E P R O P O S A L S
Aerial view of the site
Result of the selective-coding of Mural Terrain, Roman Bath and Augustus Temple