‘Building Embassy’ – An architecture student project

HALBAN As part of an integrated project, entitled ‘Botschaft-Bauen’, in English ‘Embassy building’, a total of 44 students of the Department of Urban Planning and Architectural Design (UPAD) planned and designed a new Turkish Embassy building during the winter semester. The group of UPAD students included four German exchange students from the University of Applied Sciences in Buxtehude and from RWTH Aachen University, who are currently studying at GUtech. “I am very much impressed of the projects inspired by the Turkish architecture, houses, and the culture like the evil eye, the whirling derwishes or the Turkish yali, a mansion beside the waterfront. I would like to congratulate all students,” said H.E. Ayşe Sözen Usluer, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Oman. The Ambassador attended one of the presentation sessions. First Counsellor at the German Embassy the creative ideas as well as the technical skills of the students are impressive. It was a pleasure to discuss the designs with both the students and their professors. Kudos to GUtech for producing such quality!” said Joachim Düster.

During the initial phase of the course the students and their professors discussed different aspects of Embassy buildings. “An Embassy is a representation of a nation, a symbol for cultural exchange, a place of refuge for citizens and it is like an island, isolated from the rest of the city,” said Prof. Ercan Agirbas while Prof. Wayne Switzer of the UPAD department added: “An Embassy is a place and at the same time an Embassy means building diplomacy with another country. On the one hand an Embassy is the face of a nation and on the other hand this representation must be balanced with real issues of security.” To learn more about the design of different Embassies in Muscat, the group visited the German and the French Embassy in the beginning of the semester. For the presentation of their results, all Ambassadors were invited and the cultural attaches from France, Turkey and from the German Embassy attended different sessions where the students recently presented their final results. In addition, the students also traveled to Istanbul last semester. The excursion was an important part, where they experienced the place in reality. Moreover, the project manager of the newly build German Embassy from Hoehler + AlSalmy Architects, Daniel Schulze-Wethmar attended the sessions. “Each students had 5 minutes to present and 10 minutes for the discussion. Drawings, models and renderings like physical or digital models were presented,” said Prof. Ercan.

“We had very diverse projects related to aspects of Turkish culture like the evil eye, domes etc. One design was buried in the ground and another one was floating over a garden. What made every project very good was the level of engagement of the students and how they were committed to the task,” said Wayne. Both professors stressed that “there were many best ideas, for example the most creative ideas or the most rational layout.” Currently, an architecture office is working on the design of the Turkish Embassy, possibly some student ideas will influence their planning process.

(c) GUtech/ Text: Dr. Manuela Gutberlet; Photo: UPAD Department

 

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