Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) Faculty of Fine Arts (FAF) faculty member asst. Prof. Dr. Pelin Aykut, said, “In our opinion, Istanbul is a project to explain, make sense of, and keep alive this city, which has different meanings for each of us as the city we were born/live/study in, through the eyes of university students. In a sense, maybe it is a way to show the city the value and respect it deserves through the youth.”
We asked the team, which includes students and graduates from different departments of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Istanbul, their opinions about the project process.
Rümeysa Hilal Tonbul, a 3rd-year student of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, expresses her working principles as follows:
“By adding value from ourselves to our project, which we created with the slogan of “In our opinion”; we produce and share topics that we are interested in and love. We work on the job and with the principle of learning everything about something, something about everything. This is the most exciting part of the project for me.”
İrem Keskin, a graduate of the Cinema and Television Department, talks about the flow of the project as follows:
"We set out based on vlogging Istanbul when we started the project, but we aimed to develop our project and produce in other areas during the process we are in. Over time, everyone started to produce series in relevant areas. We set out with different purposes in all of these series. We get to know Istanbul, we promote it. "
The series of architects of Istanbul, which continues on Instagram within the scope of Istanbul, has been going on for a while. Ahmet Taha Demirci, a 3rd-year student at the Department of Interior Architecture, who carried out the research process, explains the formation process of the series and the selection process of the important architects as follows:
“The "Architects of Istanbul" series was a series that I wanted to do for a long time. At first, I wanted to deal only with Mimar Sinan as the "Architect of Istanbul". After that, I started a more comprehensive series by changing my idea from Architect of Istanbul to "Architects of Istanbul" with the suggestions of our teacher Pelin Aykut and my friend Seray. We will tell you about Mimar Sinan and his works in a new series.”
We choose architects who have made a difference in Istanbul and have an important place in Istanbul's architecture. In addition, the suggestions of my project teacher and Seray Nisa Yavuz, who started a series of works to support each other with this series, were also influential in my selections.”
The first architect to be examined in the "Architects of Istanbul" series is Vedat TEK, one of the leading figures of the First National Architecture Movement.
In the continuation of the series, important architects such as Emre Arolat, Architect Kemaleddin, Emin Onat, Sarkis Balyan, Sedat Hakkı Eldem, Alexandre Vallaury, and William James Smith will continue to be featured.
Finally, Ahmet Taha Demirci explains what his research series and Istanbul Project have contributed to him as follows:
"First of all, the "Architects of Istanbul" series has been a very useful and enjoyable series for me in terms of expanding my horizons and architectural knowledge. Every series I make is a source of motivation for me. The series related to my department, like this series, provide great motivation for me. The "Istanbul" project, on the other hand, taught me to look from different perspectives, to work together, and to learn together, and it will continue to do so. The concept of learning is the biggest motivation for me; both for the group and for the series. The work we do on our Instagram account, which we use extensively, the comments and ideas of our followers, and sometimes the additions of our followers to our series are great sources of motivation for us. We are happy with every comment, as the responses we receive are generally good and constructive.”
You can follow the project's social media accounts to reach the "Architects of Istanbul" series and other series of the “İstanbul For Us” Team.
CLICK for Istanbul For Us Youtube Channel.
CLICK for Istanbul For Us Instagram account.
For your questions, you can reach the team at bizceistanbul01@gmail.com.
