A Turkish-American from Adana Re-Visits MidWest
Kaya Arikoglu, Architect and Urban Designer, Adana, Turkey-Special to The Turkish Times - As a U.S. born architect who has lived and practiced in both Turkey and the U.S.A. I have carried the feelings of an expatriate in both countries. More often than not, this has been a handicap for me. It is not unusual that I often feel out of sync in both environments . The only advantage of my condition, is I presume, that it has allowed me to be equally acquainted with the cultures of the East and West and to regard them both more objectively and sympathetically.

I am presently residing and practicing architecture in Adana, Turkey. Adana is the largest city in the Southeastern Turkey. It was named Cilicia in the classical times and is blessed with layers of Biblical and ancient history. This area of Turkey was considered by the British Empire to be the Near East and now is labeled by the US State Department as part of the Middle East. No matter how it is designated geographically, Adana is situated, literally, at the cross roads of Eastern and Western cultures. In its long history, this region has seen many civilizations rise and fall and this has allowed it to develop religious and ethnical tolerance along the way. I am sure that, the wide spectrum of cultural attitudes accumulated in this region have affected my current view of the world.

During my annual visits to the U.S. over the past ten years, I am taken aback each time by the scale of physical and cultural changes. Reflecting on my most recent visit, I would like to verbalize and share these vivid impressions while they are still fresh on my mind.

My trip to took me to three stateside destinations, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Miami, Florida. Leaving out the West Coast this geographic triangle, included, in my opinion, a wide spectrum of the U.S.A.

I began my visit in Washington, D.C. where I spent a week on my home turf seeing colleagues and friends. It seemed their pace of life had become faster. Often, they were simultaneously engaged at more than one task with their new electronic toys. They enjoyed being totally hooked-up with the world. While admiting that their electronic toys have increased their options exponentially, they complained that making choices had become more confusing and tedious for them.

Washington, D.C. and its surrounding area is in transformation. New suburban downtowns such as Bethesda, have become new commercial centers creating alternatives to the suburban shopping centers. I found the new architecture of Washington very timid. The colonial post-modern styles in housing still attracted buyers and continued to appeal to developers as a safe choice. My impression was that Washington, D.C. has become very affluent. The real estate values in the metropolitan area have increased tremendously. To buy a modest house people are working harder, faster, and longer. "Spend more and earn more" attitude has finally led American consumers to shed all their social inhibitions about capitalism.

I left Washington, D.C. with the spring in the air and the American Dream in full bloom.

Arriving in Minneapolis felt like winter on the East Coast, bearable but cold. I was met at the airport by my friend Garth who convinced me our first stop should be the Mall of America, the colossus of U.S. shopping centers.

I was not able to have a full comprehension of the total complex in its entirety, but the Mall's planning diagram seemed simple, a county fairground surrounded by a shopping mall. The cold Minnesota winters were a rational justification for such a large commercial center to be enclosed. However, I am not convinced, since, back home in Adana, they also have been building enclosed shopping malls, even though the region has a very mild climate.

After checking in at the Raddison, to my surprise and delight, I found the University of Minnesota campus to be very dense and urban. Imbedded into the fabric of Minneapolis, the campus and city complemented each other across the banks of the Missisippi River. At present, the campus and city are both experiencing a renaissance of redevelopment. The Minneapolis Downtown is being transformed by new construction. Warehouses are being rehabbed as residential lofts injecting a lot of new housing into the city core, while preserving its historical character. Minneapolis should be applauded for creating this environment for private, small scale urban redevelopment to revitalize the city center without socially subsidizing it. Among the many urban renovations is an old milling factory being converted to a museum for celebrating the milling tradition of the region. It was pointed out to me that the Twin Cities area has more museum space per resident than any other city in the U.S.

The University of Minnesota's pride and joy is its newly completed Weisman Art Center by architect Frank Gehry. It is situated on the bank of the Missisippi River facing downtown. The buildings exterior massing facing the river is abstract and very active almost like the mettalic frenzy of a robotic butterfly. The inside is cool and restrained, as it should be for a background of art to be exhibited.

I am sure Gehry's architectural approach would appease many U.S architects while it would create uneasiness for my European colleagues. Most contemporary modern architects would feel uncomfortable with architecture that does not attempt to justify its exterior expression with its interior spatial requirements. Granted, designing to create a unified expression out of varied requirements can often seem like a futile struggle for any mortal architect. Ghery, avoiding this tension and struggle in the design of the Weisman Centre has created a signature building to celebrate his very personal artistic expression. The articulated mettalic cladding of the building is simply attached to and completely independent from the rational box which it pretends not to be.

Gerhy's architecture would have preplexed even architect / teacher Robert Venturi, who would have had to label the Weisman Center as a "decorated duck", or better, a "shed decorated as a duck". Gehry's artistic license gives his stainless steel clad building a "teflon" coating to resist all modern architectural criticisms and analogies that I have burdened it with.

There are two other buildings on the Minnesota campus that seem to follow suit with similar self serving attitudes. The first example is Architect Steven Holl's new addition to the Architecture Building. This addition has a cross shape plan that is very inefficient in providing usable interior space. Eventually, the architecture faculty will have to admit that this building is not sensitive to its program, its budget or its context. The second example is Architect Antoine Predock's design for the new Alumni Center which sits on the urban edge of the campus. The building has a handsome interior, but the exterior of the building has a relentless overscale and seems to have missed the urban design opportunities of its site.

In both of these examples, very talented architects have been allowed to design individual monuments that collectively do not add to the quality of the University of Minnesota campus. In my view, it was not necessary that the architecture of these buildings ignore fittness and accomodation to achieve artistic signifigance. I wary that, art and architecture reduced to the sole purpose of providing visual delight is applauded by an affuluent society that feels very assured of its economic and social future.

The effects of consumerism coupled with architectural frivilousness had just begun to depress me when I was invited to join an "Eyeopener Meeting" at the local Minneapolis AIA chapter. This meeting of architects was to focus on the Post 9-11 attitudes that should be taken by the profession. During the course of the discussions, the initial concern for more building security shifted to the source of and the reason of the WTC terrorist attack. Some reasoned, and more agreed, that the Mid Eastern frustration with the U.S.A.'s global policy , perhaps, could have indirectly initiated this attack.

I was impressed by the quality of honest self reflection and criticism in the discussion. My colleagues elevated my optimism and minimized my doubts about the survival of the U.S.A.'s democratic system. That these gracious members of a civilized society, at the peak of their nation's global power, could be self-critical reaffirmed my belief in the future of our country. Here was a civilization with undeniable accomplishments that still possesed its initial potential to evolve and adapt. The important factor is that those who hold such liberal attitudes should continue to cultivate and convince the remaining majority of Americans to be as respectful to other sensibilities.

We need to share in the belief that other civilizations with different accumulated experiences are vital to our survival on the globe.

The US at the helm of world economy and security has a obligation to profess a world view that is tolerant and inclusive. I found this view to be existing in Minneapolis. Majority of Midwestern Americans, modestly, demonstrate a great deal of "open minded" interest in all foreign civilizations.

I departed from Minneapolis impressed by the hospitality and the cultural sophistication of its citizens but wishing that they would entrust more of their significant comissions to the "local talent" of its artists and architects.

I arrived in hot and humid Miami, realizing that this is where North and South Americas melted into a unique Miami enchilada. Also here the senior citizens and the vacationing young at heart occupied the same space at different wave lengths, kind of by-passing each other.

While in Miami I enjoyed a full detailed tour of the new Four Seasons Hotel Complex designed by Gary Edward Handel and Associates. Forcing the limits of a concrete structure, the Four Seasons will be the tallest tower in Miami when it is completed this Fall. From the 68th floor, I was able to get a spectacular overview of Miami City and its surrounding area.

Seen from above with a high vantage point Miami seems to be following planning formulas that are similar to those of other U.S. cities. The center city is being boosted in density with new glimmering towers while the surrounding lower density blocks are being renovated with street level upscale commercial. The suburbs have been allowed to form their own higher density mini centers with high rise buildings. On a bigger scale, these surrounding centers are then allowed to be linked with highways and linear commercial strips to the larger metropolitan system.

I have some fear that U.S. cities are now being planned, unbashfully, for the collection and distribution of goods and services. This is, after all, the necessity of function for any healthy city. Yet, providing infrastructure alone does not and can not assure a civilized city. An urban settlement has to have more than transportation, communication, and services to be revered as a city. A city needs to possess a conscientious affirmation of its uniqueness on the globe. The same common vision has to be reaffirmed by its architecture and urban design. In a democratic and liberal society that is hungry for variety, it would be impossible to define and ordain a uniform urban character. Yet, without it, our urban centers are reduced to raw commercial land for development. The lack of this vision in the art in civic design demeans our built environment and indirectly produces social despair.

Unfortunately, during the course of this trip, I got the impression that U.S. cities and their culture are rapidly becoming more simulated and less substantial. The US culture is in danger of being a victim of its own economic success. You may regard this view as Eastern socialistic snobbery, but I sense the same apprehensions in my U.S. colleagues and friends. Many creative individuals have literally dropped out: they are not buying the American dream. They are in search of alternative lifestyles. Their motivation is a need for adding some real meaning to their lives. Unfortunately for the remaining majority, it is still a luxury to be able to afford to finance an alternative lifestyle. Remaining Americans are unknowingly trapped in a simulated reality defined by the commercial environment. The real danger is the next generation may not even have a recollection of what feels real. They may not possess the initiative to differ from the norm defined by biased marketing surveys.

Presently, influences and examples from foreign cultures continue to provide alternatives for many of us in the West. I am fearful that this source, in turn, will get rapidly homogenized with heavy exposure to Western culture. Today, U.S. culture is totally seducing and transforming the East by its sheer economic success. Westernization of the East will eventually eliminate a whole different view of man's relationship with the universe. Before labeling the Eastern sensibility as being primitive and inhuman, we in the West owe it to ourselves to understand and revaluate it. If we don't cherish and preserve the East, our common cultural heritage will be lost. We will then be on a journey to with no looking back. Our future will be completely cut off from the past and its critical experience.

I hope this apprehension after my recent visit to the U.S. is unwarranted. I am sure that our country will look beyond today, and past its borders. The U.S.A. has the potential to exemplify a modern world culture that is more inclusive and which can preserve other civilizations while enhancing their past, present and future.