Archinect - News

Book: The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Şafak

2014-12-12T15:04:00-05:00

Sinan’s life was extraordinary, spanning the rule of three sultans, responsible for hundreds of buildings and for shaping the face of Istanbul even to this day, and he was considered on a par with Michelangelo in the West.

In Elif Şafak's (pronounced Shafak)new novel The Architect’s Apprentice the city is the real star, the teeming bustle of the streets, the whorehouses and palaces, the markets and mosques, the dungeons and bridges. And as the narrative progresses, the work of Sinan, Jahan, and Chota the elephant begins to take on greater meaning, the constant construction and destruction, the endless reinvention and renewal, acting as powerful metaphors. At one point Jahan realises that the secret of his master’s success lies not in toughness or indestructibility, “but in his ability to adapt to change and calamity, and to rebuild himself, again and again, out of the ruins”. It’s this kind of depth and breadth of scope that makes The Architect’s Apprentice an absorbing and moving piece of work.

Sinan the world’s first “starchitect” ?

2012-06-10T22:26:00-04:00

To create symmetry, he placed doors in the center of those colonnades. But inside the mosque, the doors meant worshipers now came and went from the middle of the room rather than from the back. “A sacred space meant for prayer and contemplation became a passageway,” Sinan the guide explained. “It was a mistake he would never repeat.”

Andrew Ferren traveled to Turkey on an architectural pilgrimage, to learn more about the work of a 16th-century architect and engineer named Sinan. Sinan (circa 1490-1588) was chief architect and civil engineer of the Ottoman Empire at its apogee and Mr. Ferren arranged the trip through bespoke travel agency Sea Song Tours in Istanbul.

Previously Orhan Ayyüce has posted about The Ottoman architect who linked East and West.

SINAN: Starchitect of Anatolia

2012-06-10T18:25:34-04:00

Sinan was “the Euclid of his day,” said Dogan Kuban, author of more than 70 books on Islamic architecture. “At St. Peter’s in Rome, your eye is drawn to the dome itself,” he said in a recent conversation. “Sinan’s shallow domes, however, with their abstract painted decoration, seem to magically float overhead. Instead of the structure, you contemplate the space.”

Andrew Ferren of NYT pens a delightful overview on one of Anatolia's greatest architects, Sinan whose 300 plus structures span across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Not a bad tract record for someone who started to build in his forties.