 Between
November 8 and 13, a joint workshop took place at Bilkent with students from Rome’s
"La Sapienza" University’s Faculty of Architecture. The workshop was titled
"Valley as an Urban Form: Challenging City- Naure Intersections." The aim was to
form an inter-cultural and interdisciplinary platform for education and research in the
fields of Architecture; and Landscape Architecture; and Urban Design.
Six Italian students, along with their professor, Roberto Cherubini, worked with 12
Turkish students. The main focus of the project was the Öveçler Valley, so the Italian
students visited both Ankara and its valleys. The exploration was followed by a workshop
and presentation. During the workshop, the students explored alternative design proposals
for the future of the valley/city/nature intersections.
"This was a good experience for us to identify with and learn how to work with our  Italian peers, but furthermore, it was great because we also gained an
understanding of how to work as a group with architects," said Emek Erdolu about the
workshop. Stefan Mrdak agreed saying, "Landscape and architecture are two different
languages and we are trying to combine them to fix some of Ankara's problems, to define
the architecture and landscape of it’s valleys. There is no right or wrong, we are
working together to find what's best."
This is the first time an event like this has taken place, and the Italian students seemed
pleased with their experience here in Turkey. All involved would like to repeat their
success next year with a similar workshop to be hosted in Italy.
Sera De Vor (AMER/III)
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