NEW YORK – May 2, 2018 – On April 18th, The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) School of Architecture in Troy, New York, featured Emre Arolat: Scent of the Trace, as part of their Spring 2018 Lecture Series. The lecture was held at RPI’s Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center.
Emre Arolat, an internationally renowned architect, gave insight into the context of his architectural and design work, and provided perspective on his most prominent current and past projects. Arolat discussed in depth, both his approach to architecture and his philosophy regarding the responsibility of an architect to fully explore and research the context of a project’s socio-political environment tempered by tradition and culture from which it springs.
Emre used five examples to illustrate the impact of his work:
Antakya Museum Hotel, an innovative design strategy for a hotel and museum that straddles spectacular archeological ruins in the area of one of the largest and most important cities of the Roman Empire and home of the one of the oldest Christian churches, St. Peters.
Sancaklar Mosque, which strips away design conventions and returns to the essence of Islamic philosophy.
Ipekyol Textile Factory, winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, which links white and blue collar workers in a single environment with gardens serving as a shared communal space.
Eyup Cultural Center & Marriage Hall, whose roof forms a pedestrian walkway leading to Istanbul’s waterfront, seamlessly blending with the natural topography.
SantralIstanbul Contemporary Arts Museum, adaptive reuse of an idle power plant converted into a modern center for art and education.
In addition, Arolat gave a preview of one of his upcoming cultural projects, to be built in Ajman, in the United Arab Emirates. The lecture was followed by a discussion and a Q&A session moderated by Dean Evan Douglis.
Arolat was born into a family of prominent Turkish architects. He joined his parents’ firm after graduating from Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan University. In 2004, he founded EAA – Emre Arolat Architecture with Gonca Pasolar. Today, the firm has offices in London and New York in addition to Istanbul. Its projects have received international recognition, including selected work with the Mies Van der Rohe Award and as winner with the Aga Khan Award. Arolat has lectured at design schools around the world. He was the Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture in 2017. In 2012, he co-curated the first Istanbul Design Biennale. His work has been widely published and exhibited, including at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2012 and 2016.
