Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Urbanistica Informazioni, sa.272, ss.476-480, 2017 (Hakemli Dergi)
The first half
of the 20th century has been a critical turn for the Turkish architecture and
planning history. The shift from traditional to modern discourse in the
production of built environment was governed by the ideals of constructing
modern Republic with the aid of respective reforms in the social, economic, and
administrative domains. The milieu for such grand political vision and
socio-spatial utopia has been Ankara necessitating an array of spatial plans
and institutional programs to be developed.
Planning the
spatial formation of an education quartier as the pillars of the modern republican
program was considered vital in this context. Hermann Jansen, amongst the
connoisseurs who contributed to the spatial formation of capital, reflected the
significance of establishing an education complex on the periphery of the urban
core of Ankara as an impetus for a modern environment in his 1932 dated urban
plan. This spatial strategy anchored one of the leading modern institutions the
Turkish Education Association and TED[1]
Ankara College Foundation School: the milieu for the civic educational activities
pursued for nearly a century and an integral part of modern cultural heritage.
In the current
state of the Turkish architecture and planning practice, on the other hand,
modern heritage structures and sites are on the verge of transformation.
Although current transformation approaches do not depict a promising future for
the conservation of modern environment, the regeneration of TED Ankara College
Foundation School complex into a university campus challenges the current
notion and suggests an appealing case to visit in terms of protecting the
modern cultural heritage, and sustaining the identity and memory of place.
The paper will
initially introduce the reader to the spatial formation of a modern educational
nuclei at the core of the Turkish capital through a retrospective study of
maps, plans, and photographs. Thereafter, it will explore how the aforementioned
site of education generated an identity for the surrounding neighborhood.
Subsequently, the paper will discuss the regeneration process which pursued the
character of the area as well as economic and social vitality of the urban
environment that surrounds the TED University Campus. By doing this, the paper
aims to present an alternative look within the limits of an urban regeneration
program, but against the ill-effects of current transformation approaches that
potentially hinder the conservation of the modern cultural heritage in Ankara.