WORKSHOP 55 17-30/08/2025 NEVZAT  SAYIN , TÜLAY ATABEY , MANAS DEMİRKASIMOĞLU

Open Call for Curious Architecture Students

In response to the conditions of our current times, we aim to carry out an architectural workshop, where we explore themes of possibility, space, and the commons in Yahşibey Design Workshops this year. In order to broaden the discussion, we can also frame this theme as opportunity, space, and collaborations; we may even reconsider the meanings of these concepts together and create new terms. Perhaps the workshop itself could become a shared ground—a common space—for the emergence of such ideas.

We can begin with the question: "What should places that foster sharing look like—starting from homes to gardens, from gardens to doorsteps, from doorsteps to streets, and from streets to village squares—in rural settlements that were once characterized by relationality, spontaneity, and sharing, inhabited by who are similar to each other, and that resist becoming one of the ‘neighborhoods’ of the city despite the ongoing efforts to transform them?

We aim to explore what makes living together meaningful by engaging in conversations held within spaces themselves—spaces which, depending on where we are, may include elements and units open to collective use, such as mosques, the shade of the plane tree, fountains, kahve (coffeehouses), local grocery stores, the muhtar’s office, bus stops, marketplaces, festival grounds, milk collection centers, local clinics, and schools. What kind of a place is this—and what kind of a place should it be—in relation to sun/shadow, day/night, noise/silence, and crowd/desolation?

We believe that in a time when individualities and subjectivities are glorified to such an extent—yet meaningful forms of sociality can only be sustained through acts of togetherness—it is time to talk about and seek out the spatial resonances of “anonymous subjectivities”: subjectivities that are shaped not by purely individual or purely collective identities, but through relationships shaped by place and the other.

With these thoughts in mind, we are planning faith-renewing trips to the ancient cities of Bergama and Aigai, as well as visits to nearby villages to observe examples related to the theme—once again in the scorching Aegean heat, between August 15–30. If the idea of a collaborative effort to build a shared architectural experience in the Aegean landscape with us and your peers sparks your curiosity, we’d love to have you with us.

We will conduct this study together with architects Tülay Atabey and Manas Demirkasımoğlu. What we want to do can be summarized as taking surveys, recording, understanding the possibilities and impossibilities of rural, examining the vernacular on site, recognizing “architecture without architects” and developing proposals for a ‘new’ collective space in the footsteps of the past. From our previous experiences, we know that we will decide on the details of this method together with you.

This summer —as every summer— we will be sharing a process of thinking, making, and exploring ideas together with 10 architecture students. We are looking forward to receiving your thoughts on the theme and a short statement of intent, including your impressions of Yahşibey from afar, along with your CV and portfolio, by May 30th.

With love,

See you soon,

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