It’s Axonometric

Some more architectural drawings from the past few weeks… sorry to have been so slow this week, we are winding down our research project and will be posting some more summaries of our experiences soon.  But for now… these will have to suffice.

Tomorrow, Gabby, Huseiyn, Michelle and I will be traveling to eastern and southern Turkey to see the inside of the carpet trade, and to escape Istanbul and get a little break before heading home.  Perhaps it is just the weariness of a long research project, or the subdued atmosphere of Ramazan, but a bone deep fatigue has set in, making the days long and sluggish.  I am hoping that the fresh air and scenery will continue to invigorate further drawing adventures.

Section Perspective through Patriarchate

Patriarchate Axon

And Again, Sliced

Corner Axon Detail

Galata Tower

Axon of Patriarchate Grounds

Interior, Patriarchate

Greek School and Bulgarian Church, Quickdraw

Interior Bulgarian Church, draft

Elevation, Bulgarian Church

Patriarchate by Volume and Topography

Over the past few days, I have been doing some drawings to examine the relationship of the patriarchate to the other buildings on the street, and the typical entry sequence for those entering the neighborhood.  As in the rest of Istanbul, everything is on some kind of slope or another, which provided a challenge when composing my drawings.  These are only the beginning!  More photos coming soon, Michelle and I have taken the weekend off; with the exception of participating in the upcoming Jazz fest tonight and some of next week, we are glued to our laptops trying to catch up on the data we have collected over the past few days.

Cutaway View of Patriarchate in Neighborhood

Neighborhood Entrance in Volumes

Floor Levels

X-Ray Streetview

Significant intersection in Fener-Balat

Bulgarian Church by the Ferry Stop

I apologize for the poor quality of the images; we have no scanner immediately accessible so I have been photographing the drawings and then trying to straighten them a bit in photoshop, but distortion is inevitable.  More drawings and photos coming soon!

Preliminary Street-front in Fener-Balat

These are the beginnings of the types of images that we are trying to produce to analyze the Fener-Balat.  The goal is to eventually make a composite drawing that shows this street-front in relation to its location on the map, and the sectional qualities as the topography changes.  As we take photographs, we are also documenting the type of construction, number of floors, and if noted, the age of the building.  By the end of the visit we will have documented several streets like this one in each of the neighborhoods that we study.  We are also simultaneously noting which intersections seem the busiest.  We are planning on doing several time-lapse sequences to show how people move through the space, in addition to drawing and diagramming.

Here is a rough draft of a streetfront– the name is Yildirim Caddesi, and runs parallel to the waterfront, and terminates at the Patriarchate. We have only surveyed the North side, the South side, which should be finished by next week, will show the Patriarchate itself.

North Side, Yildirim Caddesi

Some Images of Fener-Balat

We walked and mapped a bit of Fener-Balat a few days ago, here are some of the pictures.Fener-Balat is located on the far edge of the historic peninsula, close to the Theodosian walls and the one-time palace of Blacharnae and is the location of two of the most prominent minority groups in Istanbul: Orthodox Greek and Jews.  Since the 1950s, a massive population exchange and violence and discrimination led many of the Jews and Greeks to flee, leaving their homes untended.  Subsequently, immigrant groups, mostly Kurds, have entered the area and made it their own.

However, the presence of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate still brings Greeks to the area, especially now, since most of the hard feelings towards the Greeks have passed. In the entrance to Fener, even many of the shops had signs in both Greek and Turkish, and we witnessed many Greek tours going through the patriarchate.  Since this brings a fair amount of money to the region, I suspect that the residents by and large do not mind the Greeks visiting their adopted neighborhood.

A series of shops immediately outside of the Patriarchate

Here are some images and drawings of the building that constitutes the patriarchate:

We also had the opportunity, because we missed the first ferry stop, to walk through the neighborhood that sits next to Balat, nestled right against the walls.  In these places, the distinction from neighborhood to neighborhood is hard to draw, so I will just show you the photographs from all three.

Narrow street in Fener leading up to a Greek Lyceum

Laundry

Gardens outside of Blacharnae Palace

In comparison to Suleymaniye, which has been characterized as a place for bachelors to live, Fener-Balat seemed full of families and young children, women washing their rugs in the streets, playing ball games, and old men sitting in tiny stools outside of cafes and drinking tea.  We could also clearly see which buildings had undergone a restoration project, either by the municipality or by UNESCO, these were often tagged and sat cheek-by-jowl with derelict buildings.  Important to note also was the presence of protest signs, pointed out to us by a friendly local shopkeeper (more on him later) who took us around the neighborhood.  We have begun documenting a few major streets in Fener-Balat and hope to have the rest catalogued very soon; then we will begin mapping and diagramming the social life of the neighborhood.