Architect
Istanbul
Link: Cengizbektas.com
Bio and Submission: "Interview: 11.14.04"
Cengiz Bektas has built numerous works throughout Turkey, as well as in Egypt and Japan. Among the many honors he has received was the Aga Khan Award in 2001 for the Olbia Social Cultural Center at Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey. Such prizes and recognition, given on the most prestigious of international stages, are complemented by local interests and activities. Among the many examples: in 1979, with a group of architects, he created the Bektas Participatory Workshop, an attempt to engage in community work without causing gentrification to occur. Their first and main project was in Kuzguncuk, one of Istanbul's oldest neighborhoods with between 5,000 and 10,000 residents from at least four different ethnicities. In the midst of sculpture workshops, choir singing, wall painting, and flower planting, the architect opened his house, then under repair, for everyone who needed guidance in order to repair their chimney or fix a leaking roof. Advice was offered at no charge to show people that with some effort they could have the house they wanted without leaving their neighborhood. "What makes people happy," the architect stated in a recent interview, "will make me happy."
Bektas is the author of 5 children's books and 16 books of poetry. Among the books he has written about architecture is Selçuklu Kervansaraylari, Korunmalari Ve Kullanilmalari Üzerine Bir Öneri (A Proposal Regarding the Seljuk Caravanserais, Their Protection and Use); in it, Bektas reviews the development of roads in the highlands of Central Anatolia and the introduction of the caravanserai building type, and provides documentation for 26 caravanserais, including plans, photographs, and detailed sketches of any special features.
When asked what architects have to learn from the builders of gecekondus (apartments constructed over-night) Bektas said: “We can learn many things from them. First, they know how to choose the best material for their needs and they not only build with it but also they find the appropriate method to use and build with that material. So, we can say it is a vernacular and sustainable way of building. Also, these people follow Vitruvius’s rules in architecture; they know houses need to face the sun and avoid the hard wind, and maintain close social relationships without invading the privacy of others. The planning is so flexible; it can be changed with time and need. The first generation is not forcing the second generation to live in square blocks. The second generation has the choice to live in it, add to it, modify it and add another dimension if they want. These are important elements for contemporary architects to think about.”
“6 million of 12 million in Istanbul live in slums”
Robert Neuwirth, Shadow Cities (New York: Routledge, 2005).