Combining architecture with ethics: An intellectual portrait of Turgut Cansever

Turgut Cansever (1921-2009) has been a well-known Turkish architect and a prominent figure in reinterpreting and refashioning the centuries old architectural heritage of Turkey through inventing a novel approach that combines traditional architectural principles pertaining to a set of moral values and beliefs with a modern perspective. Cansever designed mosque, library, institute and museum buildings, and houses; prepared extensive and detailed new urban settlement plans for Istanbul, Ankara, and Sivas; and renovated old historical mansions. One particular originality that Cansever introduced was his endeavour to combine architecture with ethics that entailed a quintessential overlap of religion, tradition, architecture, and cultural identity on a socio-political axis in contemporary Turkey. Turgut Cansever is the only architect, who won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture three times in the world. His architectural practice and intellectual legacy have a great impact on the new generations of educated middle-class conservatives of Turkey. Dr. Faruk Yaslıçimen is going to talk about Cansever’s intellectual legacy in relation to his architectural designs and preferences