Archinect - News

Foster + Partners, BIG attached to master plan rebuilding effort in Antakya, Turkey

2023-10-31T19:13:00-04:00

The master plan for a new rebuilding project in Turkey’s southeastern Hatay province has been revealed by Foster + Partners in association with the Türkiye Design Council (TDC) in response to the devastating 7.8 magnitude Turkey-Syria Earthquake which displaced thousands and destroyed a majority of structures in the region in early February.

The plan draws in BIG and twelve other local and international practices into a consortium that will together design a revitalization of the city of Antakya with sensitivity to preserving the “cultural heritage and identity” of the 2,300-year-old provincial capital known to antiquity as Antioch.

"Hatay has been destroyed by a major earthquake at least seven times in history — some experts suggest as many as 33. In February, 80% of the city was devastated, putting Hatay in a unique position. Its archaeological and religious mosaic features require special urban planning, which needs to be combined with the creation of self-sufficient, resilient s...

Renzo Piano on the elemental approach to his newly-opened Istanbul Modern design

2023-06-13T15:14:00-04:00

If you are an architect, you have to understand what the genius of the place is, and you have to catch the spirit of the place, and Istanbul is about the water [...] And the Istanbul Modern is about a dialogue between the building and the water.

RPBW’s first project in Turkey comes as the country begins its rebuilding following the devastating February earthquake. Towards this concern, Piano says, “When you make a place for people for art and music, accessibility and safety are fundamental elements.”

A survey of his past work titled Genius Loci also “examines in detail the design process and structural components of Istanbul Modern’s new building” and remains on view in its first-floor library.

The museum opened to the public on May 4th.

Previously on Archinect: Renzo Piano’s Istanbul Modern museum opens in Turkey

Istanbul's conservators are scrambling to protect heritage sites from disaster

2023-06-02T11:48:00-04:00

Conservators in Istanbul are racing to safeguard scores of at-risk heritage sites in the wake of Turkey’s deadliest earthquake in modern history, bracing for the probability of an even greater disaster in a city straddling an active faultline.

Consequences of incumbent President Recep Erdoğan’s culture wars and the fallout of a “real-estate mentality that supersedes cultural heritage” have become unnecessary obstacles for volunteers who are up against the impossible challenge of securing 35,000 heritage sites around Istanbul seismically.

February’s deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake primarily affected the country’s easternmost provinces, but still, the metro’s location north of the precarious North Anatolian Fault means the seismic “triage” measures being performed now might not be in place in time for a similar quake scientists say has a very strong likelihood of occurring within the next two decades.

Renzo Piano’s Istanbul Modern museum opens in Turkey

2023-05-03T14:06:00-04:00

The first dedicated museum of modern and contemporary art in Turkish history is finally opening its doors this week following the completion of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW)-designed Istanbul Modern in the country’s most populous city.

Clad in an “iridescent” envelope of aluminum paneling that aims to resemble the scales of a fish, the 110,000-square-foot facility overlooks Istanbul’s Karaköy waterfront at the confluence of the Bosphorus Strait and Golden Horn waterways. In its site placement and silhouette, the structure evokes the passage of a ship through the harbor. The building’s ground floor is made transparent by a glass curtain wall that showcases two site-specific works by Richard Wentworth and Olafur Eliasson while offering visitors a panoramic view of the ongoing $1.8 billion Galataport development beyond.

Image: © Cemal Emden

RPBW says this material transparency “reflects the ethos of the museum: A multifaceted experience offering visitors audience-oriented exh...

The toll on heritage sites in Turkey and Syria following the February earthquakes is staggering

2023-02-28T12:28:00-05:00

The catastrophic events have devastated countless heritage structures, archaeological areas and religious sites, many still active places of worship, across an area so vast that it encompasses ten Turkish provinces and impacts more than 13 million people. Though less extensively reported, damage to heritage sites is most significant in the southernmost province of Hatay. The city centre of Antakya [...] has been almost completely flattened.

The World Bank estimates the total physical damage in Turkey to be approximately $34.2 billion. The Gaziantep Castle, a 2nd-century fortress later expanded under Emperor Justinian, and Aleppo's ancient Citadel in neighboring Syria are perhaps the most significant historic sites to be heavily damaged.

All told, there were at least 173,000 structures destroyed or damaged across Turkey as a result of the outmoded building codes and blatant corruption within the construction industry.

For their part, UNESCO says they are “mobilizing [...] experts, in conjunction with its partners such as ICOMOS, to establish a precise inventory of the damage, if there is any, to safeguard these sites with the cooperation of national authorities, while being aware that their priority at this stage is emergency disaster, rescue and relief.”

IKEA Foundation supports Better Shelter’s deployment of 5,000 modular shelters in response to earthquake in Turkey and Syria

2023-02-24T11:34:00-05:00

Swedish nonprofit Better Shelter has announced the provision of 5,000 emergency shelters in Turkey following the major earthquake that has so far killed over 47,000 people across the country and neighboring Syria. The shelters were made possible through a EUR 10 million (approximately USD 10.5 million) donation by the IKEA Foundation.

Better Shelter's modular units deployed in Hatay, Turkey after the recent earthquake. Image credit: Alaaddin Seyitisa for Better Shelter

“The generous support provided by the IKEA Foundation will give crucial protection to many thousand people in this difficult time,” said Better Shelter’s managing partner Johan Karlsson in a statement. “We are proud to support our humanitarian partners in Syria and Türkiye working day and night to help survivors. We now ask businesses to step forward and join our efforts to support even more people who have lost everything.”

Better Shelter's modular units deployed in Hatay, Turkey after the recent earthquake. Image cre...

Turkey issues arrest warrants for building designers in the wake of deadly earthquake

2023-02-13T16:42:00-05:00

Arrest warrants have been issued in Turkey in response to the devastating earthquake that killed more than 34,000 people across the shared border with Syria last Monday.

The BBC writes that a total of 113 warrants were issued to individuals within the country, reportedly including architects, engineers, and building contractors, over their supposed role in constructing the more than 25,000 buildings which failed or were damaged during the magnitude 7.8 tremor and subsequent aftershocks.

The country’s Vice President, Fuat Oktay, also announced the establishment of ten special investigative units spread throughout Turkey’s most impacted provinces. The punitive process comes after years of so-called amnesties for contractors that were granted, in some cases, to provide for housing construction in waves and most recently before the 2018 general election.

Previously on Archinect: Devastating 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria

In an essay for the Sunday Times, journalis...

Turkey’s outdated building codes exacerbated earthquake destruction

2023-02-10T12:23:00-05:00

Why did so many buildings fall down? [...] [Alanna Simpson] says the building codes in Turkey were updated again in 2018. But the country's "legacy buildings" are still vulnerable, and that goes for much of the rest of the world, too, she says. "It's a global problem."

Of the more than 3,000 Turkish structures destroyed by Monday’s devastating earthquake, experts say the majority were concrete and masonry infill constructions built before Turkey updated its building codes in the wake of the 1999 İzmit earthquake that killed 17,000. A 2018 construction amnesty on 75,000 new buildings put even more people at risk.

The next quake could yield even more damage, as the Associated Press reported some 13 million apartments are not in compliance with modern standards.

The New York Times has a case study from one badly affected city here.

Devastating 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria

2023-02-06T18:25:00-05:00

Reactions are pouring in following the devastating 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria early Monday morning.

There are no estimates available yet as to the number of structures either collapsed or damaged across the region, but a minimum of 3,400 lives have been lost as a result of the quake and a wave of very powerful aftershocks as concerns grow about both governments' ability to organize civil response efforts in the most impacted regions.

Building collapses have been reported in almost every community near the epicenter. Infrastructure damage appears to be significant as well.

Seismologists say the tremors that rocked Turkey and Syria are likely to be some of the deadliest this decade. Here is what scientists say happened beneath the earth's surface and what to expect in the aftermath https://t.co/vf37HkXHxQ pic.twitter.com/Tu3Kl76wxG
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 6, 2023

Turkey’s largest professional organization for architects and engineers, Türk Mü...

Zaha Hadid Architects designs collection of emergency shelters for displaced communities

2022-12-20T11:20:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed a collection of tents to be used as schools, clinics, and emergency shelters for displaced communities. The 27 tents, constructed with the support of the Education Above All Foundation, have been donated to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the Qatar Red Crescent.

Photo credit: Luke Hayes

Described by the ZHA team as a “robust, cost-effective, and lightweight modular architectural system,” the weatherproof structures are designed to be easily moved and re-assembled, with components that can be upcycled or recycled. Supported by a curving steel frame clad with fabric, the internal environment offers an open-plan layout lit by diffuse natural light.

Photo credit: Luke Hayes

Before the donation, the tents were being utilized as schools for hundreds of displaced Pakistani children in Pakistan, and Syrian children in Turkey. In their new capacity, ten tents donated to the IOM will serve as schools in Turkey and Yemen, while five will ...

More damage reported at Hagia Sophia as conversion impacts grow

2022-06-30T16:55:00-04:00

A number of marble tiles on the floor of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was turned back into a mosque in 2020 after serving as a historical museum for decades, have reportedly been cracked by heavy machinery used to clean the building last week.

“It’s like a fairground now,” one tour guide reportedly told the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet in reference to the change in status that occurred in 2020, when the site was reconverted into a mosque and conferred back into the auspices of the Department of Religious Affairs following an edict from President Recep Erdoğan.

The conversion of one of its original World Heritage Sites has drawn the ire of UNESCO, who says it is “gravely concerned.” In the past, Erdoğan, who is facing a potential unseating in the elections next year, has called the project “a symbol of the re-rising of the sun of our civilization.”

The world's longest suspension bridge officially opens in Turkey

2022-03-21T15:11:00-04:00

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge over the Dardanelles Strait on Friday (18 March). It has a central span of 2,023m, which means it usurps the title of world’s longest suspension bridge from the Akashi Kaikyo crossing in Kobe, Japan.

As reported by Global Construction Review, the new bridge cost €2.5 billion ($2.76 billion) to construct and is expected to generate €5.3 billion ($5.84 billion) in economic output, creating 118,000 jobs and €2.4 billion ($2.65 billion) in revenue. Named after an Ottoman naval victory during WWI, it is the first fixed crossing over the Dardanelles Strait and the sixth one across the Turkish Straits. The bridge is the centerpiece of a planned 321-kilometer-long (200-mile-long), $2.8 billion project to connect motorways in Thrace and Anatolia.

The bridge was designed by Denmark-based Cowi and Pyunghwa Engineering Consultants of South Korea. Arup and Aas-Jakobsen worked on the project as Independent Design Verifier (IDV), with Turkey’s Tekfen and T-ingénierie of Switzerland serving as administrative consultants. The construction was carried out via a public-private partnership, formed in 2017, between a group of Turkish and South Korean companies, led by Daelim, SK, Limak, and Yapi Me...

Turkey's spat with UNESCO over the Hagia Sophia just grew a little deeper

2021-07-27T17:29:00-04:00

UNESCO has once again officially expressed its “deepest regrets” and is now asking for an updated report on the conservation of the Hagia Sophia site in Istanbul, Turkey, adding another chapter to the embattled country’s ongoing feud with the UN’s cultural apparatus.

The body held its annual meeting Friday to discuss the status of and possible threats to an artificially long list of World Heritage Sites that has backlogged thanks to COVID-related delays of UNESCO’s 44th conference.

The group has sparred with Turkey over the temple-turned-museum that was recently converted into a mosque despite significant backlash on the part of UNESCO and other international organizations.

UNESCO said it has “grave concern” over changes to the character of the Hagia Sophia and another site called the Chora Monastery, and is now formally requesting a report from the Turkish government due no later than February 1st.

Previously on Archinect: Hagia Sophia: mosque conversion confirmed by presidential ...

Syrian government to build replica of Hagia Sophia

2020-07-30T12:44:00-04:00

According to Duvar English, the Syrian government has announced that it will build a replica of Instanbul's Hagia Sophia after the Turkish government recently converted it into a mosque. Moscow will provide funding for the project "to show the importance of 'peaceful dialogue' between faiths." Built in 537, the Hagia Sophia is a classic example of Byzantine architecture and was then the largest interior space in the world. The structure is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hagia Sophia: mosque conversion confirmed by presidential decree

2020-07-10T18:15:00-04:00

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree Friday ordering Hagia Sophia to be opened for Muslim prayers, an action likely to provoke international furor around a World Heritage Site cherished by Christians and Muslims alike for its religious significance, stunning structure and as a symbol of conquest.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan followed through on his plan today to convert Istanbul's famed Hagia Sophia, a Unesco world heritage site, into a mosque. The presidential decree was issued within minutes after Turkey’s administrative court revoked the museum status that the sixth-century structure had been assigned by Turkey's first President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in 1934 — itself a conversion from its previous designation as a mosque since the 15th century.

Photo: Filip Filipović

"Entry to the monument would be free of charge, foregoing the ticket price from several million visitors a year, and the first prayers inside Hagia Sophia will take place on July 24," reports The New York Times.

Erdoğan's intention had drawn international criticism in recent months and is likely to prompt reactions from Western heads of state.

Arup uses cloud computing to drastically cut structural design time for massive Istanbul hospital

2020-06-04T18:44:00-04:00

A recently inaugurated 1 million-square-meter hospital complex designed by Arup, Perkins and Will, and Yazgan Design Architecture for Rönesans Holding and Sojitz Corporation in Istanbul, Turkey is a feat of engineering and design coordination.

The building contains many interior courtyards that connect different wings and buildings together.

The massive Başakşehir Pine and Sakura City Hospital complex consists of three nearly identical hospital towers containing a main hospital facility, a psychiatric hospital, and a physical treatment and rehabilitation facility. The 2,682-bed hospital, developed as a public-private partnership, also includes six clinic buildings and five auxiliary facility buildings situated on the site.

While the massing, articulation, and materiality of the complex are relatively staid and straightforward, its what lies underneath these elements that truly defines the complex.

Overall view of the hospital complex.

For example, the hospital sits on 2,068 seismi...

Çanakkale Antenna Tower pierces sky in western Turkey

2020-03-12T13:13:00-04:00

IND [Inter.National.Design] in collaboration with Powerhouse Company have commenced construction on its Çanakkale Antenna Tower based in Çanakkale, Turkey. The structure will function as a broadcast network post as well as a public observation center. Formulated as a cultural landmark, the antenna tower's design includes recreational facilities and a looped path that integrates itself into the surrounding forest, giving visitors an immersive experience on the lower levels and expansive panoramic views on the upper levels.

Visitor Center.

Construction progress. Video still by Marcel IJzerman.

Construction progress. Photo by IND.

Already under construction, the red looped antenna pierces the western Turkey sky and will surely plant itself as a destination point for locals and tourists alike. The tower is expected to be completed later this year.

Silhouette view.

Kengo Kuma-designed Odunpazarı Modern Museum opens in Turkey

2019-09-09T19:59:00-04:00

The Odunpazarı Modern Museum, designed with a synthesis of traditional Ottoman and Japanese architecture, opened on Sept. 7. [...] The museum, founded by construction firm Polimeks chairman and collector Erol Tabanca, was designed by the famous Japanese architectural firm Kengo Kuma and Associates.

First mentioned on Archinect in March, the new private art museum by Turkish construction magnate and collector Erol Tabanca has now officially opened inside a delicate stacked-timber ensemble designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates.

Photo: NAARO

"The architectural design of the building also draws attention as it consists of a group of square-shaped blocks that are surrounded by laminated-timber beams stacked on top of each other," reports Hürriyet Daily News. "The Japanese designer took the historical characteristics of the UNESCO-listed Odunpazarı."

Photo: NAARO

In an interview with the project architects Kengo Kuma and Yuki Ikeguchi which the museum published on its website, Kuma said: "For the OMM building, I wanted to create a sense of intimacy by using small-scale units—to achieve a sense of warmth. Throughout the building, the geometry is not perpendicular. I think the fact that such a geometrical building can also be as organic will surprise people."

Architect Mariana Pestana to curate 2020 Istanbul Design Biennial

2019-08-27T19:45:00-04:00

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) has named architect Mariana Pestana as the curator of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial. The biennial is slated to take place between September 26 and November 8, 2020.

Pestana, who is based in Porto and London, is a founder of The Decorators, a collaborative practice that engages in public realm interventions. Aside from her work as an architect, Pestana has curated a long roster of exhibitions curated for global institutions that include the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design. Generally speaking, Pestana's research interests lie at the intersection of fiction-based futurism and critical social practices.

In a press release announcing Pestana's selection, the Istanbul Design Biennial’s Advisory Board writes, “Mariana Pestana’s passionate approach will be beneficial to the biennial in many ways, and her critical reflections on contemporary issues and inquiries into fictional futures are q...

Flexform furnishes the beautiful Nidapark Istinye residential complex in Istanbul

2019-06-24T12:22:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Flexform

Rising in the high-end neighborhood of Istinye, one of the most fascinating and historic areas of this major Turkish metropolis, the Nidapark Istinye residential complex occupies a prime location, with magnificent views of the sea. This ultra-luxurious complex includes 55 buildings, 538 apartments and amenities such as a health spa, indoor and outdoor pools, concierge service, and a 48000 sqm park. A lush vertical garden is located on the ground floor of the main building, near the reception/concierge area.

Reception Area. Image courtesy of Flexform

Furniture shown in image: Lifesteel sofa, Lysandre armchairs, Jacques and Giano end tables. Image courtesy of Flexform

Furniture shown in image: Guscio armchairs, Carmen ottoman, Jacque console, Fauno side table. Image courtesy of Flexform

Model apartments feature a unique combination of furnishings from the Flexform and Flexform Mood collections. The spacious, light-filled living room is furnished wi...

Kengo Kuma-designed art museum to open in Turkey this year

2019-03-15T14:11:00-04:00

The Odunpazari Modern Museum (OMM), a major new institution designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, will open in the vibrant but ancient university city of Eskişehir in Turkey in June, The Art Newspaper has learned. With stylistic echoes of Kuma’s V&A Dundee, the museum’s stacked timber design reflects surrounding wooden houses from the Ottoman era, and is named after its historic “wood market” district—Odunpazari.

Image courtesy of Odunpazarı Modern Museum (OMM).

"The museum will house and show Turkish and international Modern and contemporary works from the 1,000 piece collection of Erol Tabanca, the architect and partner in Polimeks Holding, a leading Turkish construction firm," writes The Art Newspaper.

Robots will be in charge of the design, manufacturing, and construction of the upcoming Seoul Robot Science Museum

2019-02-21T12:36:00-05:00

Turkish based architecture studio Melike Altinisik Architects (MAA) wins the first ever international design competition hosted by The Seoul Metropolitan Government. The first competition of its kind, applicants were asked to submit a design idea to pioneer the world's first robot science museum. The technology for robots to design the built environment is not new to the architecture and design community. However, what makes this competition win so different is the level of autonomy the robots are given and robotic construction techniques used. According to MAA's principal Melike Altinisik, "the new robot science museum which plays a catalytic role in advancing and promoting science, technology, and innovation throughout society is not only going to exhibit robots but actually from design, manufacturing to construction and services robots will be in charge."

Robot Science Museum in Seoul, Korea. Design by MAA MELIKE ALTINISIK ARCHITECTS Visualization by Ediz Akyalçın

During the mus...

Burj Al Babas, the city of empty castles

2019-01-12T18:42:00-05:00

Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage -- hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle. Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.

A city of castles has sprung up in Northwestern Turkey. Burj Al Babas, the 732-home and shopping center development built by the Sarot Group, cost a whopping $205 million and may not be inhabited in the foreseeable future. In recent years, the country's high inflation and currency crisis have negatively impacted its housing market. While investors felt secure investing in developments like Burj Al Babas only a few short years ago, the current economic climate is now given an image in the eerily empty development of Burj Al Babas.

Six cutting-edge arts venues to be transformed into interdisciplinary schools at this year’s Istanbul Design Biennial

2018-09-19T20:29:00-04:00

Set to kick off on September 22nd, the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial will bring the city’s multi-layered cultural heritage and dynamic ecosystem of creativity to life. Named a ‘Design City’ by UNESCO last year, the Second Rome provides the perfect backdrop to host the biennial, which has emerged over the years as a crucial center for critical thinking around design in a country increasingly isolated by its political situation.

Given this context, the theme for this year’s edition is “A School of Schools.” Exploring the possibilities of design education in the 21st century, the biennial will take place across six iconic cultural institutions around the city, transforming the various art venues into sites of investigation. The world-class Pera Museum, for example, will become home to the Scales School, looking at the standards, norms, and taxonomies of learning. Another, the Digestion School, where participants can learn about metabolic systems and patterns of consumption, will be held...

Predating all known ancient civilizations, Göbekli Tepe may be world's first architecture

2018-08-06T15:13:00-04:00

At around 12,000 years old, Göbekli Tepe in south-east Turkey has been billed as the world’s oldest temple. It is many millennia older than Stonehenge or Egypt’s great pyramids, built in the pre-pottery Neolithic period before writing or the wheel. But should Göbekli Tepe, which became a Unesco World Heritage Site in July, also be regarded as the world’s oldest piece of architecture?

T-shaped limestone pillars. Image: Wikipedia.

Archaeological research of the ancient Göbekli Tepe ruin site in present-day Turkey suggests that the impressive monolithic structures, believed to date back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic era (10th–8th millennium BCE), might in fact be the first known example of architecture. "Rather than architecture being the product of organised societies, as has long been thought, there is new thinking that, in fact, it may have been the organisation needed to build on such a scale that helped usher in agriculture and settled society," The Art Newspaper writes.

Apply now for 2018 AA Istanbul Visiting School - Robotic Mediations!

2018-05-31T08:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by AA Istanbul Visiting School.

AA ISTANBUL VISITING SCHOOL – ROBOTIC MEDIATIONS Monday June 25 – Friday 6 July 6, 2018

AA Istanbul Visiting School, in collaboration with Istanbul Bilgi University, is a unique learning and making experience. The program continues to build on its expertise on generative design methodologies and large- scale prototyping techniques from previous years, while bringing together a range of experts from internationally acclaimed academic institutions and practices, Architectural Association, Zaha Hadid Architects, among others.

AA Istanbul Visiting School investigates the inherent associations between form, material, and structure through the rigorous implementation of innovative design and fabrication techniques. Computational methods for design, analysis, and fabrication are coupled with physical experimentation, fostering ‘learning-by- experimentation’ in an active collaborative studio environment. Throughout the design and ...

Apply now for 2018 AA Istanbul Visiting School - Robotic Mediations!

2018-04-12T12:13:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by AA Istanbul Visiting School.

AA ISTANBUL VISITING SCHOOL – ROBOTIC MEDIATIONS
Monday June 25 – Friday 6 July 6, 2018

Ancient Syrian Ain Dara temple severely damaged in Turkish airstrike

2018-01-31T14:49:00-05:00

Much of the magnificent 3,000-year-old temple of Ain Dara, with its mysterious and massive footprints and a structure that provides clues for understanding the biblical temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, has been destroyed in a Turkish airstrike. [...] Photos and video from the Syrian Observatory and Hawar News confirm that more than half of the temple is gone, including many of the sculptures that ringed the site.

"The temple, one of the largest and most extensively ancient excavated structures in Syria," National Geographic reports, "is famous for its intricate stone sculptures of lions and sphinxes, and for its similarities to Solomon’s Temple—the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem, said to have held the Ark of the Covenant."

Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman mosques

2017-07-09T20:02:00-04:00

Erdogan is ordering the construction of mosques much as Suleiman the Magnificent once gave orders to Mimar Sinan. But as Bozdogan points out, there were many styles of mosques throughout the Ottoman Empire; in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries...Erdogan, however, sees such 18th- and 19th-century mosques as a contamination, not purely Turkish like the mosques of the 16th century.

Suzy H. Hansen visits Turkey, where Erdogan’s AK Party and TOKI (the national housing commission) have overseen a boom in construction and urban re/development. Including of houses of worship designed to reference a "golden age" of Turkish identity, while also furthering the Islamicization of the country and providing an ongoing economic engine.

JR's "Wrinkles Of The City", portraying the faces affected by gentrification and rapid urbanization, hits Istanbul

2017-05-04T23:42:00-04:00

If I was a poet, I would speak of Istanbul If I were a musician, my music would belong to Istanbul If I was a painter, I would paint Istanbul -Mihail

Prolific French artist JR continues to produce impactful work, following up his latest public exhibition with a special installation of his “Wrinkles of the City” series. First launched in 2008, the series is meant to visually portray the faces affected by gentrification and rapid urbanization in the world’s largest cities. Accordingly, JR spent the past two weeks in the alleyways and rooftops of Istanbul, forcing residents to confront the elderly’s personal stories through singular images.