Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU), Faculty of Fine Arts (FFA), Department of Interior Architecture, Res. Asst. Başak Lâle attended the Master's Theses Symposium, organized online by the Architectural Culture and Heritage Research Association on December 9, 2023, at Hacettepe University, Fine Arts in 2021. He presented his paper titled "Re-reading Water-Related Republican Era Ankara Casinos: A Spatial Review on the Lake Casino", which was produced from his thesis completed within the scope of the Faculty of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Department. Starting from the planning of the city, Res. Asst. Başak Lale's study examines the social interaction of entertainment venues with both water and the citizens, in the light of conventional and personal archive data, in the context of Ankara's family casinos.

 

“The planned capital containing the first concrete examples of the republican ideology…”

 

In the paper by Res. Asst. Başak Lâle, the scope of the study is explained as follows:

 

Architecturally unique examples of family casinos, which can be called important evidence of the changing daily life and modernizing entertainment culture after it became the capital, were built in Ankara and served until the 1990s. Examining the relationship of these entertainment venues with water in the city, which can be described as an arid Anatolian city, is also important to understand the architectural decisions taken during the period and the ideas in the formation of the social face of the modern capital. While planning the city, public pools and lakes were at the forefront, and entertainment venues, including certain casinos, were designed about water. Most of the casinos built during the period have been demolished or have changed their functions today. A detailed listing of the casino structures that started operating between 1923 and 1990 throughout Ankara and the identification of those related to water are important to see the reflections of the idea of casino entertainment on space and daily life and to understand the spatial place of these structures in the entertainment life of Ankara in the city that is a steppe town.

 

Res. Asst. Başak Lâle's opinions about the symposium are as follows:

 

“MİMAD is a very important organization that attaches great importance to studies focused on the history and culture of architecture/interior architecture, and brings together and supports these studies. It makes me very proud to be accepted to a symposium consisting of such important academicians in terms of organization and organization, and to receive positive feedback after the presentation..."

 

We congratulate Res. Asst. Başak Lale and wish her continued success.