Research Project

IA475 – Design Methods and Praxis

Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2018

Zahide Betül Şengül – Elifnur Çelik

IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

In the class of IA 475-Design Methods and Praxis, we researched on the design philosophy of the firm. According to our research, we focused on the description of a firm, the differentiating character of the firm and its design approach. We chose Alatas Architecture &Consulting because Ahmet Alatas has a different and unique architectural design approach. On our report, we analyzed the design process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting based on the interview, research, and design literature.

Architect Ahmet Alatas was born in 1969 who is graduated from Vienna Technical University.

Alatas Architecture & Consulting was founded in 1999 and he moved to Turkey in 2001. Alatas has some important projects in Istanbul such as Ipera25, Murat Karamanci Student Center at Robert College, Dardanel Administration Building, Glass House (Cam Ev), and Usakligil’s House. Alatas Architecture & Consulting is an extraordinary architecture firm because the concepts of simplicity, transparency and infinity are the main characteristics of his firm. It had a plain, simple, and reformist design technique. Based on his projects, light and volume were the other factors which need to use properly for a better design.

We would like to participate in one of his current projects for analyzing his design process.

Unfortunately, we could not find a chance to join in his projects. Therefore, we focused on his award-winning project, Ipera25. We made research and then an interview with Ahmet Alatas.

According to being collected all information, we designed two data visualizations such as the major system of his design process, and the detailed system of Ipera25 design process for a better understanding.

Based on the first visualization, we explained the major system of his design process which includes three main stages such as; prototyping, product development and design release & distribution for production illustrated in stage A, B, and C respectively. During the interview with the Alatas, we received the unexpected response to ‘How Does He Design?’ question. He replied that upbringing was a starting point of his architectural perspective during his prototyping stage.

He continued that college education was another milestone and other following step was the first three or five years’ experience in his job. According to the stage A, we concluded that location, climate, culture, moral values, frame of mind, the level of intellectualism, memories, personality were other elements which affect partially his professional perspective.

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IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

3 Zahide Betül Şengül – Elif Nur Çelik

IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

In his prototyping stage, he had a flat with a Bosphorus view but his apartment did not get any natural light. There was not no difference between day and night in terms of lighting because he left permanently the lights on. However, there had been power cuts due to the lack of the electricity during those bad days. After a comprehensive renovation in his apartment, he created Glass House (CAM EV) which was formed by glass and steel bearers. We observed that he defined this place with the terms of dark, depressing, problematic which were represented its original condition before the renovation. Actually, Glass House might be Alatas’ personal reaction to his old depressing apartment from those bad days. Those emotional memories and previous experience might affect his behavior and success deeply. We assumed that the idea of transparency with glass might a product of his memories and experiences.

His abroad study-Vienna Technical University, his professor-Helmut Richter, and his completed projects contributed to prototyping stage in his design process. Education may not only be a process to give the power and talent to the architect as a producer, but it should provide enough knowledge to handle a project technically and aesthetically for him/her. He was inspired by Richter. He said that Richter teaches his students the awareness of what to do or not in design process. He taught how an architecture should have a professional attitude. Based on one of his teachings, doing architecture meant to provide maximum benefits from the design product to the user and his/her surrounding instead of making money from his/her projects. According to Richter’s another teaching, designing a motorcycle meant that every part worked functionally perfect. Its function was priority than its appearance. Therefore, it was not only a well-designed product but also an aesthetic image. His completed projects and his previous job experience provided a huge improvement in his architectural perspective. Besides, he worked with Hans Hollein but Hollein’s approach did not match with his architectural perspective. To sum up, all of them, which were demonstrated in stage A, were affected indirectly to his design process as categorized supporting (secondary) factors of Alatas’ design.

Based on the stage B, office environment, office operation, the implementation of new technologies, office communication and collaboration were some supporting tools of product development in his design process. Office environment was also important to give a clue about Alatas Architecture & Consulting’s identity and their characteristic features of design process. His team and he moved the same direction as sitting and working together inside the same atmosphere. During his design process, everyone in his team shared every moment with each other. Office operation in Alatas’ office had a single center like counting whole team as one power. In Alatas’ office, there were many projects which work at the same time so overload working becomes a tough period before eliminating some of them based on some circumstances. As a result of that, they should all on the same page as a team. However, we

4 Zahide Betül Şengül – Elif Nur Çelik

IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

explored that Alatas was so concentrated on his projects that he spent working alone on projects 3 days without sleep. We concluded that this comprehensive solo performance contradicted his collaborative office.

Present facts and future possibilities had a strong connection in his product development stage because he focused on implementing new technologies to present work. Transparency was not only an important feature of office communication for protecting the relationship among his team members but also it was a technical approach to support the relationship between his team members and their environment with enclosing glass walls in his office. Collaboration was another supporting tool of product development in his design process. There was no pyramid system like a hierarchical model. One of his principles was sharing one common language inside his team. A collaborative working environment supported people to work with a harmony. Therefore, every member in his team should have a certain level in the technical field in order to handle it everything together.

According to the Stage C, client communication was the key item of release design and distribution for production. It was a well-known fact that an ideal client may be necessary for performing a good architecture. However Alatas always believed the importance of a good guidance

for

a

better

understanding

about

clients’

demands

and

expectations.

He advocated that the design should be explained clearly to the clients with the possible problems and their useful solution by the architecture. He thought that high education level and technical knowledge of clients were other factors of better communication between the clients and architectures. Actually, the architect should listen client’s needs carefully and then prepare the project based on his/her understanding of his/her needs. After that, his/her solutions should be discussed.

We zoomed in on Stage C and designed the second data visualization to focus on his design process of Ipera25. Its design release and distribution stage were detailed on this visualization where we explained the communication between Alatas Architecture & Consulting and the client. Design process took shape from the interactions between the firm and the client. Due to the Alatas professional perspective and client requests on Ipera25, some conflicts which occurred between the client and architect, was not always a bad thing. The communication and collaboration were two important signs for achieving success. There were six phases of his design process such as analysis, synthesis, approval, preconstruction, construction and evaluation in the second visualization. Those phases had some effective elements such as the user and user relationship with nature and environment, materials, and details.

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IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

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IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

In Phase 1, according to the interview with Alatas, his starting point of Ipera25 was the user and user’s relationship with nature and the environment during the analysis phase. After field trip in Galata, he staged out how he could design a residential complex by focusing on the user for the protection of the relationship with his/her nature and historical identity of the environment.

Ipera25 was built with traditional bay windows which represented the Ottoman architecture in the late of 19th century.

After Alatas worked on Ipera25, it became a dynamic and innovative building. Traditional bay windows transformed a new angle exterior form. Although Ipera25 was seemed to have some conflicts with the historical street in Galata neighborhood, it still matched with its surroundings. The client sacrificed some part of used area because Alatas renovated bay windows with a new design. He pulled back bay windows from the original plan. Ventilation, illimitability, flexibility, transparency, functionality, and permeability are some critical points of his synthesis stage which was illustrated in Phase 2. The architect felt himself/herself more freedom with these critical elements such as absence of beams, minimum cross sections, new systems, materials and readable structures.

Choosing the material was another important element of phase 2. One of the favorite materials were glass, steel and wood. During his design process, he preferred to use the original form of materials. Based on the interview with Alatas, he described this approach as “an honest behavior” which was meant to protect the nature of material. He was trying to use the modern architecture for increasing the life quality and creating an intersection area of the work, the user and his/her relationship with nature and environment. In Ipera25, steel was the base material which covers on the thin surface of concrete floors and walls. He was well recognized as a steel architecture in Turkey. He emphasized that it would actually be much more important to apply the steel properly in his projects.

Municipality and the council of monuments were two authorities for approval process of Ipera25 (Phase 3). The journey from the client to Council of Monuments was a tough process under the supervision of Alatas. Mete who had a leading role on the existence of Ipera25 worked at the Council of Monument.

Alatas’ firm team and engineer team started to develop high quality details after the approval of Ipera25 (Phase 4). Details were one of the most important issues during preconstruction stage.

He was trying to think about the smallest part of structure during design process. For example, light and volume were provided an open-plan look. A glass and wooden shell provide flexibility and transparency by passing day light from exterior to interior. A glass elevator was designed as the mechanical spine of the building which is one of his favorite structures in his designs. In preconstruction stage, Alatas would also like to design buildings without beams which helped to

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IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

adapt possible changes in space through time. It also provided to get daylight into space effectively. He also preferred to minimize cross sections which made design process short and simple. Using steel contributed to the modern architecture with those elements. However, the cost of steel was the main problem in Turkey. It had a special technique of fire isolation in steel buildings compared to the reinforced concrete constructions. It was a really quick design process and besides steel buildings meant the signature of modernisms.

In construction process (Phase 5), steel helped to construct the light structures. There were other advantages of using steel such as providing the elegance, leaving wide openings, and protecting simplicity of facade. Looking over his projects, steel was used in dry construction technologies and on site fabrication of assembling components. In phase 6, the evaluation stage of Ipera25 was the last step of his design process. Ahmet Alatas told that being chosen or rewarded might be a subjective perception. Rewards did not affect him directly, but it had an important tool to be chosen by clients for his future projects. Ipera25 was designed based on supporting Alatas’ principles and his professional attitude with ignoring to win a prize or make money from it because he follows Richter’s teachings. Based on Richter, new experience in different fields was the most interesting part in the architect’s career.

In conclusion, two data visualizations had been presented to explain Alatas’ design process: visualizations 1, a major system which was demonstrated three main stages of his design process, and visualizations 2, a detailed system which was illustrated six phases of the design process for the award-winning project, Ipera25. The major system contained prototyping, product development, and design release & distribution for production. The detailed system also included the problem-solving process by explored with the stages of analysis, synthesis, approval, preconstruction, construction and evaluation. The user relationship with nature and environment, materials, and details were described very clearly as three effective elements between the phases of Ipera25 design process.

However, it still remained unsolved mysterious of the question, how Alatas designs. We assumed that Alatas performed plan, section, and visual presentation during 3-D modeling. He dedicated himself to creating 3-D modelling during the sleepless nights. We were not sure that how his mind was working during those comprehensive solo performance on those projects. These unknowns could be the secrets of his success in his career.

He recommended us to work ambitiously on our projects. He told that each effort increases one more step up the current level of the architectural design. Alatas and his architectural office represented a professional virtuous which meant their designs made life better with more appropriate solutions and more effective improvements day by day. He told that “Your work

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IA 475 – Design Methods and Praxis – Design Process of Alatas Architecture & Consulting

11.01.2017

showed your passion and this provided you with the opportunity to develop your core architectural skills.”

We also integrated his design process into scientific research with following design literatures: 1. Yehuda E. Kalay mentioned that schools of architecture should work on future information technologies new materials, buildings, and practices for making designs more complex, more innovative, and more effective. (Kalay Y. E. (2006). The impact of information technology on Architectural educatıon in 21st century). Alatas also supported this concept and he believed that computer architecture moved his career forward. For him, technology represents future possibilities.

2. According to the article ‘What is designing’, the function of architects, engineers, industrial designers and others were mentioned in order to understand the mechanism of design methods. In this article, design process was illustrated as a series of events which begins with this supply of materials and worked with a producer and completed with the society during the formation of new products. Alatas’ main goal was to conform European design standards. However, employer and location’s culture in Turkey were tough issues to follow European design standards. Based on the article ‘What is designing’, the industrialized countries had started to work on design methods since the nineteen fifties and sixties.

(Jones, C. J. What is designing?). However, we concluded that those industrialized countries had already completed their developments, while Turkey has improved itself day by day and discovered new design techniques with the latest technology.

3. Based on Bryan Lawson in his book, How Designers Think, design was a process in which problem and solution existed together. According to the interview with Alatas, architecture was the seeking a solution of a certain problem for him so his priority approach is functional design. According to Lawson, he described the design process as the negotiation between problem and solution through three activities of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Alatas also followed these three activities during a problemsolution process. During this process, the project would go hand in hand with the harmony between the client and architecture. Ipera25 was one of his highly regarded and awardwinning projects as a result of an effective communication between the clients and Alatas.

(Lawson, B. R. (2006). How Designer Think) 4. According to the interview with Alatas, he followed that one of the main principles of Le Corbusier which was to use the proper way of daylight and volume. A good architect should know how to use sunlight, protect from winter weather condition, reusable sunlight energy, and ventilate air properly.

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