The "ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION IN TURKEY" Exhibition Has Started at SALT

Architecture Education in Turkey: The Thresholds of Institutionalization from the 18th Century to Today exhibition awaits visitors at Salt Galata from December 6, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

Turkey is considered one of the early countries in the historical context of "architects being formally educated." Before formal schooling, architecture, as everywhere in the world, was learned in Turkey through direct professional practice and construction activities. There is an uninterrupted history starting from the establishment of the Hendese Odası (Hendesehâne) in 1775 to the present day. The first engineers were trained as soldier-architects who built fortifications and urban defense structures; this early period integrated military and engineering education and continued until the start of specialized architectural education in 1883 at the Sanâyi-i Nefîse Mekteb-i Âlîsi. Until the Republican era, the Harbiye, where "architectural science" courses were taught, functioned for a long time as a kind of architecture school; many buildings needed by the administration, especially in the provinces, were designed by officer-architects. Over time, as everywhere, the military-engineering-architecture connection in Turkey also dissolved; despite its vital importance in architectural education, a separation from the design sector began.

Architecture education, which started as a single school integrated with military and engineering training, has now spread to over a hundred schools across Turkey. Architecture Education in Turkey: The Thresholds of Institutionalization from the 18th Century to Today aims to narrate the course of this academic landscape, especially within everyday life. It addresses the physical environment of schools, the lives of faculty and students, working conditions, experienced upheavals and unrest, contributions to the country's architectural production, opportunities for expansion, and bottlenecks through visualization.

The exhibition, programmed by architect-academicians Uğur Tanyeli, Arzu Erdem, and Esra Kahveci, was prepared by Orkun Dayıoğlu and Eylül Şenses from Salt. The exhibition, which can be visited free of charge at Salt Galata until March 31, 2024, will be accompanied by public programs that will later be announced on saltonline.org and Salt’s social media channels.