Yağmur Yıldırım, Mimar / Architect & Plankton Project
While surrounded by mega structures, establishing limited economic connections based merely on consuming users in the city; designs and responses that the users develop through their needs where they can approach on different aspects, are appearing as major requirements. In an environment confined with conventional perspective where the “potentials of the architecture” is neglected, Plankton Project is standing out as a collective believing in the large impacts of the small scaled subjects, allowing for an approach consisting of laboratory research disciplines where they can create their designs regarding these subjects. Willing to take more part in life excluding the present activities of the academic education focusing on mounting constant arguments, this formation aims to perform in-depth researchs through a collaborative understanding. It pays attention and aspires to understand and give meaning to the classical design process, proceeding as a routine in their lives.
Plankton Project takes a stand refusing to think within the common hierarchical methods from a higher level towards the argument “architecture systematic which no longer functions” which has critically revealed itself, forming the collaborative motivations. In order to bend the conditions of being a student and the limits of the existing market dynamics, it places the human scale right in the center of the fundamental constructions in their designs.
Gathered as a mixture of under graduates and graduates from the departments like architecture, landscape architecture, urban and regional planning and graphic design, Plankton Project team is an assemblage allowing for organical growth and downsize. Choosing the name “plankton” which metaphorically represents the living creatures taking place in the gigantic aquatic ecosystem, having the ability to move against the currents when mutually coming together despite their monocellular natures, living in lakes, seas, rivers and even in glaciers in certain conditions; coincides with the aforementioned reasons. The team is taking a stand against the hierarchical mechanism in its interior organization and moving in a collective plane within the light of specific task divisions and the coordinatorship of the contractor.
As a result of these identified contexts, the team has realized its first project with the Ovacık Municipality which has an alternative municipal understanding. Focusing on the requirements of the public in their designs, the Ovacık Municipality strives for conducting municipal works which grounds on mutually peforming with the public within the scope of their motto “Word, authority, decision goes to public” unlike the government units approaching through sudden and unexpected impositions. Stating that they have less knowledge on conventional municipality, the unit is well aware of the fact that without involving the users, their provided services won’t make any sense. This understanding has created an environment for the Plankton Project to get involved, express itself and contribute.
DURAK:
The process has started when the group member Ezgi Çiftçi came together with the mayor Fatih Maçoğlu in a meeting and had a converstation on the functioning of the municipality and various problems. The mayor indicated that they have provided bus stops for the district to be more qualified in the transportation field yet these stops haven’t been adopted by the locals and they don’t serve to certain functions. Within the scope of this conversation, Plankton Project has started the project undertaking every level from design to implementation. Being the first project of the team: Ovacık paved the way for the participant/worker experience to the team members in the implementation process of the project created also by themselves. The team has worked together with the municipality, samplers, craftsman and the locals by sharing the same space in every phase of the project. The major gain from the process was to realize the impropriety of the “myth”, that the architecture and client are positioned in opposite directions which is accepted in advance during the student days and to experience the dif ferent solutions offered regarding this false belief.
Design
Two formerly manufactured-fabrication moved to Ovacık and the bus stops designed for positioning in the urban environment were not able to meet the requirements of the geography during the winter season where the snow depth reaches above 3 metres and during the summer months where the scorching heat takes over. The team’s analysis at this point was that the locals were unable to adopt the unidentified and disconnected form of the place as a result of mass production and the place doesn’t get in touch with the Ovacık itself, resulting in losing its grip. In light of this data, the team embarked on the designing research before seeing the area. Along with the drafts, design sections and similar drawings accustomed to the disciplines of the architectural education, the team tried to position in the ground and give meaning to the space. One of the characters involved into the process at this point was “Mr. Hayati” from Ovacık, working in the present municipality. The meetings led to evaluate the climatic characteristics, physical and social experiences of Ovacık. Through the established data, it’s aimed to create a design abiding to the principal decisions made during the station designs and to serve the purpose for bending-evolving goals with the implementation process of the design. These principal decisions involve suggestions such as the form of the carrier, its response to the climatic conditions, the options for the Ovacık locals while they wait 30 minutes for the public transport vehicles and its contributions to the local life besides being a bus stop. Through these suggestions, a prototype bus stop theme was created through filtering the answers team members have come up with.
Implementation
Arriving at Ovacık has started a transition to the phase reformed by the conditions of the district through the construction process of the prototype. The design process became much clear procceding through meeting the requirements of the area as a result of the critical studies performed with locals/ craftsmen and workers involved in the implementation process. The principal decisions regarding the structure of the carrier have been reevaluated through details and dimensioning within the scope of the nature of the timbers in Ovacık and the options of the studio. The facade construction has been performed by recycling the lumbers in the municipality studio through the decisions made within operational options in the design process. At this point, phases such as; transforming the gridal steel materials leftover from the road maintenance, construction and paving works by welding them into gabion wall structure, involving the inactive chipboards under the bunk beds from the municipal dormitory into the facade materials through overhauling, providing the stone part of the gabion wall from the Munzur Stream, have strengthened the material transforming and “belonging to the place” principles of the team.
During the process, manufacturing phase of the Plankton Project guided with the local craftsmen, has created and intensified the experience of the student-graduate team through working alone with the employer. The team describes the Stop: Ovacık project in reaction to the material research at the –in locals’ words- “victimization area” for the 1:1 scaled production theme, to a design research in an unknown-unvisited area and to the intangible academic productions. Plankton Project carries on working for their projects following Stop: Ovacık. Their agenda is really busy right now. Along with kicking off the meetings for creating new project ideas, the team enlists its attractive topics involving migration, temporariness, immigrants and the relations these notions bring into connection with the citizens. They examine and investigate the main topics discussed in these meetings such as the intersections of the designated notions and the scale for the Plankton Project to be involved in these topics.
In the meantime, they are dealing with the project offers. The team states that the new project ideas created on a conceptual basis, lead them to team-unit necessities existing in the certain parts of the city. At this point, there’s the process conducted in cooperation with the Architecture For All team for the Derviş Baba Union. Derviş Baba Union can be addressed as an organization striving against the cultural barriers which currently disturbs them. The union wants to embody a new building for expanding their cooperation and meeting network, constituted in the existing application area. Located in Balat, the center building of the union from the 50’s, is in need of a refurbishment process regarding the new activities. At this point Plankton Project and Architecture For All got involved in the process. Düzce Umut Atölyesi project is yet another similar scaled and themed collective project, offering new possibilities to work on different scales for Plankton Project. While meeting with the collective organizations on one side, the team continues to search for different aspects for creating solutions. They are trying to explore the necessities in the Plankton project scales, working to communicate one on one with the related institutions and organizations and they are well aware of the fact that sharing these experiences based on producing is highly important.
Stop: Ovacık project consists of a different research potential for everbody involved in the process. Besides, they realize the changements in the learning methods in this experience and continue to advance upon them. There is an important point in this researching and learning experience: Instead of being a stable team, Plankton Project defines itself as an organization growing and expanding on the projects which it has been involved in. Within this understanding, the more it shares its passion with many people and encourages them, the more it will communicate, get ideas and suggestions and create new projects.
Plankton Project keeps on performing presentations and interviews to make these interactions possible and increase the acquaintanceships. Having completed their presentations for the İTÜ Taşkışla Faculty of Architecture a short while ago, the agenda of the team includes Salt, StudioX, Bilgi University and Mardin Artuklu University. At this stage, another important objective for the group is the college students.
To follow the team’s work and get in contact, you can visit planktonproject.com or follow their social media accounts and feel free to share anything.
