Ethics & Aesthetics of Architecture & the Environment Conference 11-13 July 2012, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne 1 TURGUT CANSEVER’S IDEAS ON ARCHITECTURE: AN ONTOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL INQUIRY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY TURKISH ARCHITECTURE Asst. Prof. Dr. Derya Yorgancıoğlu İstanbul Kemerburgaz University, School of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Architecture e-mail: derya.yorgancioglu@kemerburgaz.edu.tr 1. INTRODUCTION Turgut Cansever (1920-2009) has a unique position in modern Turkish architecture of the twentieth century due to the line of inquiry that he maintained as an architect and thinker. Cansever was cognizant of the fact that a novel design approach can be cultivated together with a novel discourse (Tanyeli, 2007, p. 193). His in-depth readings in the fields of art, literature, philosophy and religion constitute a ground for him to base his architectural discourse. His deep knowledge on Islamic culture and the conception of ‘being’ as defined in the philosophy of Islam play a key role in the way Cansever comprehends architecture. He strongly criticizes the consequences of ‘Westernization’ in the Turkish modernization process, which in his view led to neglect of traditional values in the creation of built environment. Despite his emphasis on a return to tradition, it would be a misinterpretation to say that he is a historicist. He neither searches for a new “Islamic architecture,” as underlined by Turkish architectural historian Uğur Tanyeli (Tanyeli, 2007, p. 193). Islamic thought oriented Cansever towards an ontological inquiry, and architecture is at the center of this inquiry. He made a re-interpretation of the power and responsibility of architecture through the lens of the philosophy of Islam. A key question raised by him is how a comprehensive understanding of human-world relationship can enhance an awareness of the responsibility and the merit of architecture --to order human beings’ relation to their environment and help them return to a comprehension of wholeness, of the ‘unity of being.’ This paper aims to understand the framework references of the critical role Cansever maintained in the twentieth century Turkish architectural thought by delineating a picture of his ontological and ethical inquiry. For the purpose of this paper, Cansever’s ideas are examined under certain themes that can be discerned in his architectural discourse. 2. ‘ISLAM’ AS A PHILOSOPHICAL REFERENCE FOR THINKING AND MAKING OF ARCHITECTURE ‘Cansever wants to think about and experience life, culture, art and architecture –all elements of social and personal life- in a holistic way shaped around an axis that is defined by the religion of Islam. He envisions a holistic framework that encompasses not only abstract and concrete elements formed by human beings, but also whatever exists in nature (the realm of all assets, in an ontological sense).’ (Uğur Tanyeli, 2007, p. 192)