10 Jun 2015

Istanbul Modern: All that is Solid

ALL THAT IS SOLID
YAP Istanbul Modern: Young Architects Program
10 June–15 November 2015


YAP Istanbul Modern is held biannually and offers emerging architects the opportunity to design a temporary installation in the courtyard of Istanbul Modern. Providing an attractive urban venue for the summer, the projects are expected to host diverse events and create social spaces for city dwellers. Architects encouraged to explore design ideas providing elements of shade, water, and seating that would increase the possibilities of use in open-air spaces and expected to address environmental issues in their designs through sustainability, re-use, and re-cycling.
On YAP Istanbul Modern's second edition, an international jury has selected the project 'ALL THAT IS SOLID' from among proposals of the five finalists from a list of 30 candidates put forth by prominent nominators from Turkey and TRNC. Designed by PATTU, 'ALL THAT IS SOLID' is a temporary site-specific installation inspired by the industrial history of the area surrounding the museum. The project will host performances, workshops and other events throughout the summer.


ALL THAT IS SOLID
PATTU (Cem Kozar, Işıl Ünal)

'Buildings are like anchors to memories because they tend to last longer than our human lifespan. But how solid are buildings? The fact that they are made of stone, cement, and marble does not mean they will last eternally. They can easily be gone in a day. This is why we borrowed a part of Karl Marx's famous quote, 'All that is solid melts into air,' for the project title. Our approach was to dissect the space around Istanbul Modern, with all its elements and previous constructions, and reassemble them, showing the ephemeral side of architecture. The design borrows geometries from past buildings and crunches them together in a chaotic way. But this chaos starts making sense over the course of a day, as past geometries become visible and invisible again. It is not only a reminder of the past, but also a statement about the imminent change the future holds, so that we can be more critical about it. The industrial history of the region influenced our choice of materials: the main structure will be constructed with oxidized metals. The responsive shades will react to the position of the sun and its heat; they will close when it is hot and open when it is cold. Pallets, shrubs, cushions, and beach chairs will form the landscape under the structure.'

YAP Istanbul Modern is carried out in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 under the co-sponsorship of Garanti, Polimeks Holding and VitrA. Engineering and construction support has been provided by Metal Yapı. The YAP: Young Architects Program conceived by MoMA PS1 in New York became glocal with the participation of CONSTRUCTO in Santiago, MAXXI in Rome, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul alongside Istanbul Modern. A YAP International exhibition presenting the designs of the finalists invited to the program in 2014 and 2015 by MoMA PS1, CONSTRUCTO, MAXXI, MMCA and Istanbul Modern are on view in Istanbul Modern's Pop-up exhibition area until 2 August.

YAP Istanbul Modern 2014-2015 Finalists

PATTU (Istanbul) / ALL THAT IS SOLID
Ali Sinan & Hasan Okan Çetin (Ankara) / Whisper of Trees
FLAT C (London-Istanbul) / House of Ropes
Herkes İçin Mimarlık (Istanbul) / Collective Ground
Young & Ayata (New York) / The Bosphorus Grove

YAP Istanbul Modern Jury: Prof. Dr. Suha Özkan (President), Emre Arolat, Çelenk Bafra, Barry Bergdoll, Pippo Ciorra, Levent Çalıkoğlu, Pelin Derviş, Oya Eczacıbaşı, Pedro Gadanho, Geuntae Park, Jeannette Plaut & Marcelo Sarovic, Melkan Gürsel Tabanlıoğlu, Han Tümertekin

Program Coordinators & Finalists Exhibition Curators: Çelenk Bafra, Pelin Derviş