For whom: Güllü Primary and Secondary School students
With whom: Assemble, Arkitera, 41st Building Fair – Turkeybuild Istanbul
When: 2018
On 10-11 May 2018 we organized a workshop named “Yapı Unplugged” together with Assemble within Arkitera’s organization at 41st Building Fair – Turkeybuild Istanbul. The workshop, which aimed to re-evaluate the waste materials that emerged during the fair installation, was attended by 47 students and graduates from different schools’ departments of architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design, urban and regional planning and painting.
In the meetings we made with ITE Turkey and Arkitera, who organized the festival before the workshop, we talked about the idea of making a workshop for the students to produce physical products. The idea of evaluating the waste materials of the fair installation overlapped with our long-term ideas and experiments about the reuse of waste and scrap materials. On the idea of sending the productions to the needy one, we decided to send them to the Uşak Eşme Güllü Primary and Secondary Schools, where we worked on open classrooms and game park designs together with Okan University Brokoli Student Group and Izmir Economy University Cut Paper Student Group.
In order to design the content of the workshop, we shared this idea with Assemble, who are the co-director of the workshop and also invited to the fair as a guest-speaker. You can visit their web site to learn more about Assemble, a London-based collective architectural office, which works on many transformation project’s design and application.
After learning that materials such as wood, carpet, cardboard will come out intensively during the installation, we decided to produce seating units for Güllü Primary and Secondary School. Besides the waste materials, we made a list of some more wood and hardware items that could be useful structurally. On May 7th, the last day of the installation of the fair, we went to the area and reserved useful materials from waste collection points.
In the first day of the workshop, we started with a hands-on presentation by Assemble on materials and tools in a tent that left us in the open section of the fair. After the presentation, the participants formed groups of 3-4 people and started to work and design with the materials behind the tent. Some groups begin to work directly with material, while others produce sketches on paper first. Whether they have started to work with material or sketches, all attendees are told that when they come to the application stage, materials and tools play a decisive role in the productions they make. For participants, many of whom have had such an experience for the first time, this was instructive according to our observations and feed-backs. At the end of the first day, all groups presented their productions and get informed about the future process of their productions.
In the second day, the groups continued to work in order to complete their tasks. Structurally reinforced productions were lastly sanded and varnished to withstand outdoor conditions. While many visitors who came to the tent during the workshop wondered about the productions, some were involved in the production process themselves and shared their knowledge with the participants. At the end of the second day, the sitting units were brought together behind the tent area and photographed individually and collectively. The next day, after Assemble made a presentation in the exhibition area, the photos of the productions were shared and then the certificate ceremony was held. On the evening of May 12th, we loaded the produced seating units along with the woods, pallets, some tools and materials that still could be used to the vehicle in order to be transported to the Uşak Eşme Güllü Village.
We sincerely thank to ITE Turkey and Arkitera, which made the workshop happen; to Louis and Maria from Assemble who cooperated with us harmoniously; to the participants who worked two days long intensely and created beautiful products; to all the fair stuff who helped us to meet our needs in the area and to all the visitors who are interested and participated in the workshop.
Here you can find the photo album of the workshop.
Here you can read the workshop news, and the interview we have done with Arkitera can be read here.
Workshop coordinators: Begüm Büyükdağ, Canan Erten, Elif Tan, Emre Gündoğdu, Louis Schulz, Maria Lisogorskaya Merve Gül Özokcu, Sarper Takkeci
Workshop participants: Ahmet Furkan Tırpan, Aslıhan Özen, Aysu Yılmaz, Ayşe Nur Karakaya, Berke Meder, Beste Kural, Betül Yalman, Burcu Berk, Büşra Bektaşoğlu, Büşra Yılmaz, Cansu Erdem, Ecem Uslu, Ecem Yücesoy, Ekin Arın, Elif Soylu, Emine Vildan Karahisarlı, Ercan Ciğerci, Eslem Serra Özen, Esma Dolgun Dağdelen, Ezgi Üzümcü, Furkan Avcı, İlayda Akak, İlayda Sarp, İrem Hoplamaz, Kaan Mert Erturgut, Melike Çulcuoğlu, Merve Köseoğlu, Meryem Yazar, Muazzez Nil Yalındağ, Naciye Ekiz, Naglaa Salah, Nazlıcan Apaydın, Neslihan Karadoğan, Nihan Gürel Ulusan, Nilüfer Hacıosmanoğlu, Nuriye İridemir, Özüm Ezgi Satılmış, Seçil Bakır, Sena Keleş, Sena Özdemir, Simay Efe, Şebnem Balım Şule Toptan, Volkan Parlak, Yeşim Girgin, Yeşim Ürün, Zeynep Aybüke Tiryaki
