THE ETHOS OF ARCHITECTS TOWARDS AN ANALYSIS OF

266 Pages·2005·0.88 MB·English

THE ETHOS OF ARCHITECTS
TOWARDS AN ANALYSIS OF ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE
IN TURKEY

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

NİLGÜN FEHİM KENNEDY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

SEPTEMBER 2005
Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences

Prof. Dr. Sencer Ayata
Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sibel Kalaycıoğlu
Head of Department

This is to certify that I have read this thesis and that in my opinion it is
fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy.

Prof. Dr. Hasan Ünal Nalbantoğlu
Supervisor

Examining Committee Members:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sibel Kalaycıoğlu (METU-SOC.)
Prof. Dr. Hasan Ünal Nalbantoğlu (METU-SOC)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helga Rittersberger-Tılıç (METU-SOC)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selahattin Önür (METU-ARCH)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Alpay Dikmen (AU-FPOLS-PA)
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been
obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and
ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and
conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results
that are not original to this work.

Name, Last Name : NİLGÜN FEHİM KENNEDY

Signature :

iii
ABSTRACT

THE ETHOS OF ARCHITECTS
TOWARDS AN ANALYSIS OF ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE
IN TURKEY

Fehim Kennedy, Nilgün
Ph.D., Department of Sociology
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hasan Ünal Nalbantoğlu

September 2005, 255 pages

A certain architectural "ethos" comes into being as a result of the
specific training which architects receive as producers of space, of their
dual status as artists and professionals, of the conditions in which they
live and of the social status of their profession. This ethos is a product
of the architects’ collective "habitus". The attitudes of architects
regarding their position in the building industry, their role in society and
their self-image (or its lack thereof) as artists determine the
transformations within the architectural profession under the impact of
the changes in society. This study investigates architects' professional
practice by focusing only on those architects working independently
and mostly having their own offices. Thirty-one architects were grouped
by age, gender, the faculties from which they graduated and province
of residence and work. The international influence on architectural
discourse, the effects of architects’ organisations and their professional
ideology were introduced as additional variables for investigating the
nature of their habitus. The interviews revealed that the architects’
“spontaneous professional ideology” (SPI) is the main adhesive of their
collective habitus and the ethos, and it forces architects to think in a
iv
specific way about space, the sovereignty of architecture, its art
component, its legitimacy, architects’ devotion to their profession, their
feelings of superiority over clients and users as well as their overall
code of conduct.

Keywords: architect, ethos, habitus, professional practice,
spontaneous professional ideology
v
ÖZ

TÜRKİYE’DE MİMAR KİMLİĞİ VE MİMARLIK MESLEK PRATİĞİ
ÜZERİNE BİR ÇALIŞMA

Fehim Kennedy, Nilgün
Doktora, Sosyoloji Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Hasan Ünal Nalbantoğlu

Eylül 2005, 255 sayfa

“Mekân üreticisi” olarak da düşünülen mimarın hem sanatçı hem
profesyonel sıfatıyla aldığı eğitim, yaşadığı koşullar ve mesleğin
toplumsal statüsü belli bir mimarlık “ethos”u oluşturur. Bu ethos
mimarların ortak “habitus”ları ile şekillenir. Mimarların inşaat
sanayindeki konumları, toplumsal rolleri ve kendilerini sanatçı olarak
görüp görmedikleri geçirilen toplumsal dönüşümlere bağlı olarak
mimarlık meslek pratiğindeki değişimleri biçimlendirir. Bu çalışmada
mimarların meslek pratiği incelendiğinden, çalışma serbest çalışan
büro sahibi/ortağı mimarlarla sınırlı tutuldu. Otuzbir mimar, yaş,
toplumsal cinsiyet, mezun oldukları okullar ve yaşadıkları/çalıştıkları
illere göre gruplandırılırken, uluslararası mimarlık söyleminin etkileri,
mimarların örgütlenmeleri ve profesyonel meslek ideolojileri de
değişken olarak değerlendirmeye katıldı. Yüzyüze yapılan
mülakatlar, mimarların çoğu kez ‘kendiliğinden’ işleyen profesyonel
meslek ideolojilerinin, ortak habituslarının dolayısıyla ethosunun ana
birleştiricisi olduğunu ve mimarların mekân, mimarlığın bağımsızlığı,
sanat bileşeni, meşruiyeti, mimarın mesleğe bağlılığı, kullanıcı ve
müşteri üzerindeki üstünlüklerini algılayışları ve etik kuralları
vi
hakkındaki düşüncelerini belirleyerek meslek pratiğini etkilediğini
ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar kelimeler: mimar, ethos, habitus, meslek pratiği,
profesyonel meslek ideolojisi
vii
To my sons Barış and Deniz
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I express sincere appreciation to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Hasan Ünal
Nalbantoğlu for his guidance and insight throughout the research. I owe
a particular debt of gratitude to the 31 architects who agreed to give of
their valuable time and be interviewed. Without them, this study would
not have been possible. I would also like to thank my friends and
relatives for arranging appointments with architects and for welcoming
me into their homes in provinces other than Ankara. Finally I would like
to thank my spouse Bernard, brother Gürbüz and children Barış and
Deniz for being on hand to solve every technical difficulty and for their
continuous support.
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAGIARISM ......................................................................................iii
ABSTRACT..........................................................................................iv
ÖZ........................................................................................................vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................................................ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................x
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................ 1
2. SPACE, ARCHITECTURE & ARCHITECTS: A THEORETICAL
OVERVIEW............................................................................. 14
2.1 Space............................................................................. 29
2.2 The Art Component of Architecture................................ 40
2.3 The Sovereignty of Architecture..................................... 47
2.4 The Professional Ideology.............................................. 49
2.5 The Legitimacy of the Architectural Profession............... 62
2.6 The Organisations of Architects...................................... 69
2.7 The Ethics of Architects.................................................. 74
2.8 Gender Issues in Architecture........................................ 75
2.9 Architectural Education................................................... 77
2.10 Love of the Profession.................................................... 81
3. THE RESEARCH.................................................................... 84
3.1 The Research.................................................................. 91
3.2 How The Sample Was Chosen ....................................... 99
4. THE VIEWS OF THE PRACTISING ARCHITECTS
INTERVIEWED...................................................................... 105
4.1 Architectural Education.................................................. 106
4.2 Architecture as a Discipline........................................... 115
4.3 Space............................................................................ 123
4.4 Architectural Practice..................................................... 131
x