The urban and architectural environment of Galata and Pera through the descriptions of some Italian travelers between the 19th and 20th centuries (2021)
The aim of this paper is to present the urban and architectural environment in the cosmopolitan Istanbul’s districts of Galata and Pera throughout the impressions left by some Italians travelers who spent some period in the Ottoman capital throughout the 19th and the early years of the 20th century. This historical period has been chosen and analyzed in order to show the changes and development of Istanbul in those years through several Italian ‘eyes’ and ‘voices’ who witnessed at that time some important transformations in the Ottoman culture, highlining the coexistence of different world, such as the Turkish Muslim society and the ‘Levantine world’, a mixture of several cultures and religions, including Jewish and Christians. Through their detailed and accurate descriptions, many travelers witnessed the daily life of the ‘Levantines’, the urban environment in which they lived and the architecture they built, as well as their traditions and customs among the Muslim Turks. Following a chronological order, this paper will focus on travelers who described spaces and architecture in some areas of Istanbul such as Galata and Pera, defining and encompassing the culture of those Levantine communities.
ISTANBUL (TURCHIA): LE CUCINE DEL SULTANO (2020)
The aim of this article is to introduce an exhibition design project completed in 2019 inside the Topkapı Palace’s Imperial Kitchens in Istanbul. As a remarkable project of these years in Turkey, the most interesting part of it has been designed by Teget Architects, a Turkish team who have tried to give a contemporary look to the exhibition space within an architectural artifact of particular importance. Dating back to the second half of the 16th century, the Imperial Kitchens’ complex is considered one of the masterpieces built by the great Ottoman architect Sinan. Trying not to alter in any way the pre-existing structures constrained by the Superintendence and the Topkapı Palace Museum Management, Teget Architects were able to design the museal area with some remarkable solutions regarding the route through the kitchens’ spaces, the arrangement of the new showcases to display objects and tools, the lighting design and the juxtaposition of the contemporary environment with the old stone and brick walls and domed structures.
IN SEARCH OF AN ‘OTTOMAN LANDSCAPE’: SİNAN’S WORKS IN THRACE AS EXPRESSION OF TANGIBLE HERITAGE (2015)
The aim of the paper is to describe the ‘Ottoman Landscape’ designed by architect Sinan in the 16th Century, through examples of architectural artifacts like mosques, staging posts, caravanserais, complexes, bath and bridges inside the Turkish border of the Thrace region. The land routes connected the capital of the Ottoman Empire Istanbul to the rest of Europe were important routes crossing the Western lands under the control of the Ottomans, to reach other countries and lands. Thanks to descriptions left by many travelers, we can today have an idea of the cities, the urban spaces, the landscape and the territories of Thrace during the Ottoman time, in a period covering approximately the last five centuries. A description of Sinan’s works in the territory of Thrace is given and analyzed, focusing on interesting aspects related to the choice of the site, the urban planning approach and the architectural features. Nowadays Sinan’s works are still visible in the territory and in the minor centers of Thrace, or outside big cities like Istanbul and Edirne. Throughout these investigations and studies we can re-construct and re-shape the enormous heritage left by him as part of an ‘Ottoman Landscape’, not only considers in terms of specific and unique monuments that need to be protected, but also as part of a cultural ‘milieu’ that belongs to our contemporary world. This landscape needs to be revitalized, to preserve the memory of its historical values and for its future persistence in the territory.
LOCAL SOLUTIONS FOR GLOBAL EMERGING NEEDS: THE ITALIAN CASE OF FRIGERIO DESIGN GROUP AND ITS ‘SLOW ARCHITECTURE’ METHOD (2013)
The aim of this article is to present some good architectural experiences, related to the processes of built environment and focused on important issues like the bioclimatic changes, the global warming and the energy saving. Today many architects are increasingly interested in ecology and sustainability, within the intention to design for a better world; containments of costs for buildings, use of passive system like solar or wind energy, or the introduction of new technologies are the new imperatives, not only for the architects but to remodel our society in the 21st Century. As a case study, the Frigerio Design Group from Italy, founded in 1991 by architect Enrico Frigerio, have been chosen, presenting some of their most important projects. FDG is constantly searching for the quality in architecture, the use of new materials and the relationship with the environment and the local climate, using as a slogan the motto ‘slow architecture’, in response to the commercial and massive buildings of the fashionable contemporary tendencies in architecture.
ISTANBUL IN THE NEW MILLENIUM (2012)
Often evoked for its past, Istanbul is today one of the post-metropolitan protagonists of the new millenium, with a population of around fifteen millions of inhabitants in rapid growth. The current status of the city is presented in the following article through some architectural episodes that illustrate its powerful presence in the global panorama.
An urban / architectural journey in the contemporary world of Istanbul is the topic of this special issue for Urban Design magazine. Among the rapidly expanding and developing cities of the world, Istanbul represents a good example of a city in the era of globalization, with all the strengths and weaknesses that reflect its dynamics. In the last ten years the city has witnessed a growth phenomenon that continues to change the urban fabric, especially in the areas that make up the new business or directional centers of the metropolis.
At the behest of Atatürk, after having transferred the capital of the new Turkish state to Ankara in 1923, Istanbul returned to being the capital for a year in 2010, chosen as the European Capital of Culture, proving to be a dynamic, energetic, attentive and interested in trends, full of events and cultural manifestations, capable of attracting both tourists and investors from the most varied countries of the globe.
CONTEMPORARY ISTANBUL (2011)
The immense contemporary city of almost 15 million inhabitants still represents today all its past linked to the Romans, the Byzantine and the ottomans and this is why the visitor wants to find that bridge always in balance between East and West with its varied heterogeneous culture.
But there is undoubtedly something else that well represents the dizzying growth of Istanbul in recent decades; in fact the city of Istanbul has continued to grow in modernity perhaps not following a planned schedule and also through difficulties and restrictions of a social, military and economic nature. With so many difficult moments in its recent history, Istanbul still carries the marks and the traces of its past and at the same time, is showing the incredible desire to be a contemporary city
An Exhibition in Istanbul on Raimondo D'Aronco – Conversation with Diana Barillari (2006)
The exhibition on Raimondo D’Aronco was held between 17 September - 15 December 2006 in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Center, Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation, Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region and Udine Municipality.
The venue of the exhibition, which was dedicated to the Italian architect Raimondo D'Aronco who worked in the Ottoman capital between 1893 and 1909, is the Istanbul Research Institute (IAE).
Herewith, we present an interesting interview between Diana Barillari, curator of the exhibition and expert on D'Aronco, co-author of the “Istanbul 1900” book and Architectural Historian at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Trieste, and Luca Orlandi, senior lecturer in History of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University.
