NUTRITION
ZT Awards 2021 National Architectural Student Competition – Island. Poetry. Space.
(ZT Ödülleri 2021 Ulusal Öğrenci Mimari Tasarım Yarışması – Ada. Şiir. Mekan.
Team Members: Betül Akbaş, Rahima Rashidzade
Acquirements: Competition experience, Port and harbour design, Revit experience
Islands are the pieces of land that utopian thoughts wait for their realization, why wouldn’t it be possible to take a journey here to find ourselves, to complete the void within us, after the crowd in the city.
Writing poetry is about delving into one’s inner self and expressing the emotions, thoughts, memories, experiences, and existence with words. Reading poetry, on the other hand, is finding traces of one’s own being in the words written by someone else, immersing oneself in those words, feeling them, and experiencing the beauty of sharing one’s own feelings or similar ones with another person. The poet reflects their inner and outer world in their poetry, and the reader defines the boundaries of the feelings, places, and experiences present in the poem through their own senses. Thus, poetry moves forward on its own path, without too much interference, existing in the simplicity and harmony of nature. In the traditional Japanese poetry form called Haiku, it is possible to express any subject, emotion, or thought with a few words. The effectiveness of brevity, simplicity, and silence, allowing the reader to imagine and add their own interpretation, adds a special meaning to poetry. Visitors to the island experience different journeys in the same verses, where everyone experiences their own unique corners that one would like to retreat and curl up into within oneself. Those who embark on their own journey should have special corners in the accommodation places on the island, points where they can connect with the sea that embraces the island.
Poetry is born out of absence and matures through reading. Poetry, with its depth and ability to initiate inner journeys, leads to personal growth. If the island is a poem, it matures as it is read at various locations. The cistern dome, representing Bodrum, forms the central point where water, the fundamental element, is collected and stored. Surrounding this center are houses that host poets and certain visitors. The stone cistern, encountered by people at the mature point of the island, bears witness to readings, sharing, and the special acoustics of the dome accompanied by water. In the journey towards maturity, there are streets that lead to the sea, such as those in the Old Greek Quarter. These streets take one on an internal journey, sometimes unexpectedly leading to the sea, sometimes to a vibrant library, and at times simply getting lost amidst the trees. In the Turkish Quarter, single or small-group houses are scattered within green spaces, much like settlements that make one lose themselves in nature or discover alternative worlds. Alongside the warm climate, greenery accompanies spaces where the outward-facing architecture also leads inward. On the island, spaces are found for writing, reading, sharing poetry, and accumulating it. While libraries are responsible for collecting written sources, they also present an opportunity to host and engage in conversations with living libraries – people, writers, and poets – as part of sharing, waiting at the end of certain paths.
* Thoughts and expressions evolve over time. Now I can say that poetry comes not from nothingness but from existence. In fact, poetry is the transformation of existing thoughts and feelings into words, which are a different entity. It is a story of transformation.
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