Campus Utopias I: Middle East Technical University Ankara, creatief herlezen

Middle East Technical University Ankara, creative rereading

Abstract

In collaboration with TU Delft’s Department of Architecture, the ‘Campus Utopias’ graduate research course was conducted with students from the Architecture Department of the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, in 2021. The focus of the research was the METU campus, an iconic example of modern architecture in Turkey, and the goal was to discover the intentions of its designers. As well as the architects of the campus, the term ‘designer’ was used to refer to the institutions and individuals who had been involved in the establishment of the university.
The original campus, built between 1962 and 1970, was a masterpiece of urban design and architecture. Merging the urbanistic ideals developed at the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM 1928-1959) and the formal codes of the International Style with common elements of regional architecture, the campus created a unique environment. The overall design, reflected in plan schemes, infrastructural systems and construction techniques, was the outcome of post-war experimental research in architectural engineering. Another reason for its prominence, besides its material qualities and stylistic maturity as a genuine interpretation of modern architecture, were the social values crafted and disseminated by this modernist institution. Providing a sense of identity and belonging, the campus served to foster a spirit of community. Traces of desired modernity can still be found in the institutional presence of the campus, partly in its architectural image and partly in the association between this image and the democratic, liberal social life it provides.