2boXes: Architectural Experiments
on Identity
boX_1: AIRport
Inspired by Marc Augé’s term that defines anthropological spaces of transience, I tackled the question: can non-places be designed as non-places?
The prismatic, almost “boring” form of the AIRport and its elements pay homage to “Specific Objects” of Donald Judd rather than to Mies and his “functionalist” vocabulary. Accordingly, materials as well as the building itself are deliberately impersonal and they reject the gesture and emotion invested in design and/or in handcrafted object. The AIRport’s ontological reason of existence does not stem from the idiosyncrasy of its form, artistically crafted façades, or state-of-the-art interior spaces, but from the constant—and unintentional— presence of its travelers who aim to spend minimum time and sequence of “moments” that they happen to be a part of.
boX_2: [g]Host
The steel and glass box functions as a village information center. Its flexible and customizable interior allows small scale public events as well as accommodation of researchers who would like to study the village. With its deliberately muted façades, the building aims to anchor itself to the context without being part of it.
The box does not pretend to speak the architectural language that is sadly obsolete but it reflects it with no attempt of interpretation. Limiting or simply shutting down any possibilities of a dialogue completely, the building forces its users to deal with the reality of the village through its glazed walls which expose rather than harbor. Architecture that is reduced to an “arrogant,” but anonymously numb, prismatic form reveals impacts of intolerant demands of modern world while ironically providing what Cumalıkızık’s “authentic” buildings lack: flexibility and adaptability.
