Ayşegül Güner, Architect
Architect Ayşegül Güner provides project, consultancy and application services in domestic and international platforms in the fields of architecture, interior architecture and urban design under the roof of AAD Architects & U.WE Design, which she founded in 2008. Having adopted the whole process in terms of design, construction and management, and taking the delivery of his projects in a qualified manner as his primary goal, Güner puts “human” at the center of each of his projects and puts his signature under designs shaped by art. We talked to Architect Ayşegül Güner about her architectural approaches, the relationships she established between space and art, and her thoughts on natural stones.
What kind of a process do you go through while implementing your projects?
AG: First of all, we listen to the expectations of the employer in each of our projects. Even listening is not enough, we prepare presentations that will make them question themselves more and bring their expectations to the surface. The notes taken after these presentations come together and start a design journey by combining with the function of the building. This is where our story begins as we embark on this journey.
How do user habits and behaviors shape your designs?
AG: I can give an example from our Nişantaşı University Sadabad Campus project. Those who use the field are young people who have started university with the desire to learn. In fact, this is a university campus that serves as a bridge to life. In this project, which we transformed from a factory structure to a university campus, we took the flexible use of youth as a basis. We tried to enrich all spaces with functions that they can use differently. Corridors have also turned into areas where they can socialize. By using completely steel and glass, we actually gave the building a youthful and sporty identity just like them. In the lecture halls, we left the photographs and important traces of the scientists we want our young people to meet. We did not separate the administration departments from the students, we enabled the school administrators to work together with the students on campus. It was a living, dynamic and surprising project.
Can you talk about the artistic touches you apply in the spaces you design?
AG: Spaces are designed by architects for people. Our project, which is about humanity and whose story has begun, is starting to create its own artistic original existence. In the project, all artistic elements are progressing as a whole and are connected to each other wholeheartedly. We work with many artists at this stage of development. Thus, the feeling he creates when the project is finished is actually “Everything complements each other; how that happens?” it makes our employers and guests say. In response, we say this is actually your story.
Which conditions do you prioritize in your projects within the scope of sustainability?
AG: Sustainability can only be realized with a design made by imagining the future of a building. Forecasts of changes that may occur in usage purposes are very important in a planning project that can remove flexibility. Material choices to be made accordingly are indispensable for sustainability. We realize that we have created a sustainable project when we see that even when a building is in its fifth year after its opening, it still has not undergone the need for changes and has not undergone a serious maintenance in its materials.
What kind of approaches do your designs take in housing projects?
AG: In housing projects, we are trying to solve the personality traits of the users who will live in that house intensively. In fact, sometimes our employers are surprised by the results we find. This is both fun and very difficult. People do not know very well what to expect at home; because in this busy life, they forget what they expect from them. Before starting the design, we try to understand them first by tiring our employers a little with intense meetings. Then the rest feels like a sock rip.
What are your thoughts on the relationship between architecture and the metaverse?
AG: Metaverse is a platform that we have been working on for about a year. We are currently working on “mix-used” surfaces, a project where people can receive many services when they enter. The future of architecture for us is the Metaverse. I think that humanity will use the spaces on this platform in the next century. I think architects will now design non-space usage areas for people in the virtual environment.
What would you say about the designs of aesthetic clinics, which occupy an important place in your project portfolio?
AG: In the aesthetic clinics we design, we narrate the miraculous aesthetic touch to human beings and transfer them to architecture. For example, at Doctor B Plastic Surgery Hospitals, we created a story that will increase the self-confidence and happiness experienced by people who are part of this revolutionary change when they leave the hospital. At Aesthetic International in Quasar Istanbul, another project we designed for Doctor B, we focused on the horizons opened to the reborn human being, integrating the spiritual richness created by art with the realistic perspective of science. Witnessing the experiences of the people who lived this story in such a space created, I think, is the greatest reward of the architectural profession. It is very important to design a space that can serve people both spiritually and functionally.
How do you maintain your productivity and creativity?
AG: I actually attribute staying productive to my travels, research, curiosity about people and my love for design. Architecture is not just building design for me. It is a very important design profession that comes into direct contact with people. Life is beautiful with the love for design. For this reason, this excitement inside me is increasing day by day. Every new day contains a new project and a new design excitement for me.
How important is natural stone material to you? Do you include Turkish natural stones in your projects?
AG: Natural stone has been among the materials we have used the most for 15 years. Natural stones have a very impressive aesthetic, strength and energy as a material. As we use imported stones, we also follow and research the stones extracted from Anatolian quarries. There are stones that our country is very good at, for example, travertine. However, we do not prefer this type of stones with high absorption properties. I think the products which are applied to reduce the absorption also kill the naturalness and beauty of the stone.
Which natural stone types do you feel close to when you evaluate them in terms of their properties?
AG: We try to prefer basalt materials in our projects. We especially prefer volcanic stones. Their naturalness, aesthetics and strength of the stone texture on their surfaces are very impressive. In a project we did in Bodrum, we used a black volcanic stone. We placed the same stone on both the walls and the floor. Our employer also cared about our ideas in this regard and acted bravely. When the practice started, pressures started coming from the environment, that there would be no black stone in Bodrum. On the contrary, we have experienced that white surfaces shine in nature, while black surfaces are completely integrated with nature. While it keeps the place cool by absorbing the heat during the day, it gives it back to you as a warm stone when you step on it with your bare feet in the evenings. I think volcanic stones have really wonderful structures. All stones are love, in fact, they are all unique in their own way. They are all different and as unique as fingerprints. I love to break the stones at the construction site and see the natural texture in them, and I always do this.
