Ankara Exquis

The studio's goal was to establish a “Story Mine” in Ankara by employing research-based design methodology, treating the city as an ore rich in historical, cultural, and natural narratives to create a space for storytelling. Beginning at the “Dig Point” in Zafer Square on Atatürk Boulevard, the project examines layered context rooted in early Modernist Republican ideals and its shift from a cultural to a commercial zone. Expanding beyond, it explores Ankara’s uncontrolled urban growth and transformations, isolating fragments that turn the city into a “cadaver” and leading to “Ankara Exquis.”

As Jean-Louis Cohen (2022, 1:01:42–1:02:38) states in the lecture "Frottage City" (The Inaugural Penelope Lecture) streamed by Architecture, Design & Planning: “Every artist makes a drawing and then folds the paper leaving only two points which will be the starting structure for the next drawing. It is only through these points that each figure is related to the adjacent one, the line of the fold becoming a rigid limit. City plans […] include morphological ruptures between both sides of a street, the street operating like the paper fold. That brings to mind the Exquisite Corpse.” Building on this statement, discussions throughout the process expanded with Jean-Louis Cohen's Transurban (edited by Frausto, 2021) and Colin Rowe & Fred Koetter's Collage City (1978). The project explores the fragmentation of Türkiye’s capital, reimagining the city and its museum through its history. Instead of focusing on block design, it emphasizes the transformation of fold lines that limit valuable fragments, reviving “two points” as “clues” in the game. It introduces three tools that employ fold lines as generative and scaleless elements offering an alternative strategy to the existing master plan. Fold lines as a tool for: 1. Reading the city – Identifying the typology of fold lines such as boulevards, streams, walls, façades, and the character of "cadaver" fragments. 2. Recoding the city – Re-folding valuable fragments. 3. Designing the city and its museum – Reviving “clues” to transform fold lines with spatial qualities This methodology, adaptable to different contexts, underlines the folding of existing fragments through expanded fold lines marked by the "cadaver." It creates a heterogonous fabric, where artworks, valuable spaces, and nature reclaim their value.