Fire, Image, Language a Thesis

İZMIR ―RECONSTRUCTED‖: FIRE, IMAGE, LANGUAGE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ARZU BEYZA YANAR IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE IN ARCHITECTURE FEBRUARY 2014 Approval of the thesis: İZMIR “RECONSTRUCTED”: FIRE, IMAGE, LANGUAGE submitted by ARZU BEYZA YANAR in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture in Architecture Department, Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Canan ÖZGEN _____________________ Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Güven Arif SARGIN _____________________ Head of Department, Architecture Prof. Dr. Ayşen SAVAŞ _____________________ Supervisor, Architecture Dept., METU Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Ayşen SAVAŞ _____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Inst. Agnes van der MEIJ ____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Inst. Dr. M. Haluk ZELEF ____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lale ÖZGENEL _____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdem ERTEN _____________________ Architecture Dept., İYTE Date: 07.02.2014 I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Arzu Beyza YANAR Signature : iv ABSTRACT İZMİR ―RECONSTRUCTED‖: FIRE, IMAGE, LANGUAGE YANAR, Arzu Beyza M.Arch, Department of Architecture Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ayşen Savaş February 2014, 110 pages This study develops around a number of workshops organized in İzmir in 2013 with the collaboration of İzmir Institute of Technology students. In these workshops, a city map of Izmir of 2010 is given to the participants with the area selected which was burned in the Great Fire of Smyrna of 1922. The participants were expected to achieve collective spatial détournements within this tabula rasa condition, either following the traces of the plan or free from its restrictions, but with their spontaneous ―playful-constructive behaviours‖. Détournement is a term borrowed from the Situationist International which has been a ―radically transformative‖ and ―socio-experimental‖ group of 1960s. It refers to the appropriation of any cultural elements, subversion of their meanings and their relocation in different contexts that embraces the revolutionary propaganda. The primary focus of the thesis is to explore how détournement can become an agency to emancipate urban space and architecture from the burden of canonizations, conventions and ―external‖ influences. Following the Situationist principle that the theory cannot be considered separately from the practice, this study conducts four groups that collectively construct four different situations through workshop experiences, and examine the results obtained from these four situations with reference to Situationist terminology. These four situations v cannot be considered as urban planning projects but they all posit models of ―Unitary Urbanism‖. More than anything else, they propose a critique of the existing situation of the city after fire, the critique of Danger and Prost‘s plans, the constructed hierarchies within the city, and social segregation. Regardless of its geographies and conditions, this thesis sees the Situationist International movement as a reaction far beyond being nostalgia. Such an investigation enables us to explore the recent contributions of Situationist urban tactics for the ―reconstruction‖ of the city İzmir. Keywords: Situationist International, détournement, Unitary Urbanism, socio- experimental urbanism vi ÖZ “YENİDEN İNŞA EDİLEN” İZMİR: YANGIN, İMAJ, DİL Yanar, ArzuBeyza YüksekLisans, MimarlıkBölümü TezYöneticisi: Prof. Dr. AyşenSavaş Şubat 2014, 110 sayfa Bu çalışma İzmir Yüksek Teknoloji Enstitüsü Mimarlık Fakültesi öğrencilerinin yer aldığı atölyeler dizisine odaklanır. Bu atölyelerde katılımcılara 1922 İzmir yangın alanı işaretli olan İzmir kent haritası verilmiştir. Katılımcılardan seçili alanda kolektif bir çalışmayla mekansal saptırmalar yapmaları beklenmiştir. Katılımcılar planı bir leke olarak takip edip etmemek konusunda serbest bırakılmışlardır; sadece ―oyuncu- inşa edici davranışlarla‖ mekansal saptırmaları gerçekleştirmeleri beklenmiştir. ―Saptırma‖ 1960‘ların ―kökten dönüştürücü‖ ve ―sosyo-deneysel‖ grubu olan Durumcu Enternasyonel‘den alınan bir praksistir; herhangi bir kültürel ögenin ele geçirilmesi, içeriğinin alt üst edilmesi ve ―devrimci‖ bir bağlama yerleştirilmesidir. Tezin esas amacı ―saptırma‖ praksisinin kentsel mekanı ve mimarlığı kanonun, akımların ve ―dış etkilerden özgürleştirmede nasıl bir aracı olabileceğini sorgulamaktır. Durumcu Enternasyonel‘in kuramın pratikten ayrılamayacağı ilkesini benimseyerek bu çalışma, dört grubun atölyeler aracılıyla kolektif olarak ürettikleri dört farklı ―durumu‖ ele alır ve çıkan sonuçları Sitüasyonist terminolojiyle değerlendirir. Bu dört ―durum‖, şehir planlama projeleri olarak değil dört ―Üniter Şehircilik‖ modeli olarak düşünülmelidir. Her şeyden önce, dört ―durum‖ yangından sonra inşa edilen kentin, Danger-Prost planının inşa ettiği hiyerarşinin ve sosyal segregasyonun eleştirisini sunar. vii Doğmuş olduğu coğrafyayı ve koşullarını dikkate almaksızın bu çalışma Durumcu Enternasyonel‘i bir nostalji olarak değil bir direniş hareketi olarak ele alır. Böyle bir çalışma İzmir‘in güncel ―yeniden inşası‖na Durumcu Enternasyonel‘in kentsel taktiklerinin katkısını araştırmamızı sağlar. Anahtar Kelimeler: Durumcu Enternasyonel, Saptırma, Üniter Şehircilik, Sosyo- deneysel şehircilik viii To My Family… ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Ayşen Savaş for her invaluable guidance and criticism. This thesis would not be written without her constant encouragement for different ways of thinking of the thesis topic. Her inventive vision has kept me excited about my thesis throughout the process. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank Prof Dr. Güven Arif Sargın for the course ARCH 512 which introduced me the book ―A Thousand Plateaus‖. The discussions held in the course enabled me to consider my thesis topic in relation to the concepts of Deleuze and Guattari. I would like to thank to jury members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lale Özgenel, Inst. Agnes van der Meij, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdem Erten and Inst. Dr. M. Haluk Zelef for their inspiring comments. I can certainly say that this thesis has an author but is a result of a collective work. I would like to thank my friends Elif Gedik, Fatma Kavaklı, Ilgım Tur, İdriz Mumcu, Pınar Keskin, İlkem Kılıç, Melek Çilem Elgün, Ece Ceren Önder, Ebru Bingöl, Yelin Demir, Özge Deniz Toköz, Ceren Tüzer, Berna Yaylalı Yıldız, Pınar Kılıç, Fatma Tuğba Canan and Evren Ülkeryıldız. Without their participation, this thesis would not be written. I am grateful to all of them for their friendship, interest and sincerity. I am indebted to Ayşe Nur Şenel for her fruitful discussions and supporting my research even after she left the city. I always felt her encouragement and support with me. I owe special thanks to Ece Ceren Önder who participated in the atelier, contributed to the process of defining the thesis topic and provided technical support. I thank to Aslı Çağlıyurt, Onurcan Çakır, Hamidreza Yezdani, Taylan Örs and Banu Işıl Işık for sharing sources. x I am so indebted to Pınar Yüksel and Pelin Fırat for their existence in my life. I thank to both of them for their fruitful discussions, source recommendations and material supply. Thanks to their constant encouragement and support I could complete the thesis. This thesis would never been accomplished without the support of my family. I am grateful for their endless love, friendship and support throughout my life, including the thesis process. Their never-ending excitement about my thesis has kept me motivated. Finally, I thank to my grandfather who never got tired of waiting for me under the shadow of an olive tree in the garden of my primary school. xi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ___________________________________________________________ v ÖZ __________________________________________________________________ vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS _______________________________________________ x TABLE OF CONTENTS ________________________________________________ xii LIST OF FIGURES ___________________________________________________ xiv CHAPTERS ___________________________________________________________ 1 1.INTRODUCTION _____________________________________________________ 1 2.SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL ____________________________________ 19 2.1. The Language of the Spectacle ________________________________________ 19 2.2. Unitary Urbanism __________________________________________________ 24 2.2.1. Situationist Criticism on Art _________________________________________ 27 2.2.2. ―Readymade‖ ____________________________________________________ 27 2.2.3. A Situation: Gallizio‘s Cavern of Anti-Matter ___________________________ 30 2.2.4. A ―Minor Language‖: The Praxis of détournement _______________________ 31 2.2.5. New Babylon ____________________________________________________ 34 3. A SITUATION: GREAT FIRE OF SMYRNA, 1922 _________________________ 44 3.1. A Central Tabula Rasa in İzmir ________________________________________ 44 3.2. Danger-Prost Plan __________________________________________________ 47 xii

Load more