Transitional territories: Architecture of (post)-extraction in the Ağaçlı coal fields, Istanbul

Abstract

'Transitional territories: architecture of (post)-extraction in the Ağaçlı coal fields, Istanbul' revolves around the interaction between soil, extraction and architecture. The project addresses the ephemerality of extractive landscapes, imagining new ways of relating to the earth. Seeing soil not as a static being, but as a dynamic vehicle of becoming, a medium constantly in transition.
Throughout the history of Istanbul, the city has used different forms of energy supply for heating and electricity. The Ağaçli coal fields have been extracted for coal to supply the energy to Istanbul during a large part of the twentieth century. Although the rate and volume of extraction have since then reduced, the landscape is still a a testimony to the changing grounds. The history
of extraction still remains clearly visible in the topography, which is formed by different types of extraction sites. The project considers architectural modes of extraction, changing the logic to incorporate and legitimate the soil in a way that constructs new spatial relations and forms. The project questions the standard reclamation narrative by positioning itself on the frontiers of cultivated and wild land, between past and present.