The Department of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture curriculum includes design studio courses organized around three different themes: context, form and concept. Each semester, these studios choose a different urban area as their case study, which students analyze on-site to critically assess weaknesses and potentials. Students then produce urban design projects that offer real-life solutions to the problems they have discovered.
The Context and Design studio, led by Dr. Ayşegül Tokol and instructor Hatice Karaca, visited Çanakkale from September 29 to October 3, working through the challenges and potentials presented by the temporal and spatial multiplicity to be found in the landscapes of Çanakkale. During the same dates, the Form and Design studio, led by Dr. Kumru Arapgirlioğlu and Asst. Prof. Didem Dizdaroğlu, was in Avanos, with a focus on designing sustainable landscapes through consideration of the interrelated forms and structures presented by nature, history and people.
The Concept and Design studio, led by Dr. Deniz Altay Baykan, visited Gülşehir from October 6 to 10, to work on the idea of “correspondence” in urban design. While there, studio members also participated in a series of workshops organized by TAK (Tasarım, Araştırma, Katılım/Design, Research, Participation), a design initiative that aims to bring together local administrators, academicians, design professionals and students. The Bilkent LAUD students worked alongside 450 other design students from 70 universities across Turkey.