Safranbolu

Typically, top levels of apartment units are most expensive, due to high demand. But if we were more in sync with nature, the bottom levels would have been priced higher.

Nature has endowed us with an immutable instinctual “fear of heights”, which is an evolutionary gesture that is hard-wired within us and is meant to protect us from falling. This alone should have made it pretty clear to us that mankind was meant to dwell not too high up in the air. But due to fierce societal competition especially among women, high levels are preferred and valued more in most societies especially in Turkey. People think they are more successful if they live higher than others in apartment buildings. Similar to the comparison of driving a BMW M5, as opposed to a Nissan X-Trailer. This desire to exhibit power to one another has alienated more important natural instincts.

Last year, I have decided that my bedroom will never be higher than 10m from ground level (about the middle section of a 20m oak tree), because I have noticed that the closer my home is to the ground level the better i feel in the long term. After week 2 in a 9th level apartment at 27m above ground level, the excitement of the view makes way to feelings of being in an unnatural spaceship like atmosphere. I am not afraid at all to go on the 50th level of a construction without any railings to inspect works for an hour, my fear of heights is pretty much under control, but i prefer to live more naturally close to the ground in the long term.

If we had listened carefully to our main natural instincts, instead of the callings of fierce societal competitions, our cities and environment in general would have been so much better.

The question that may come into mind, is why do i design residential towers (I have no objections to designing towers in general, but residential buildings are a sensitive matter for me) if i don’t believe in living in top levels myself? Am I similar to a doctor prescribing his sick patients antibiotics due to legal obligations, but wouldn’t take it himself if he had the same type of flue?

No.

An architect’s job is similar to the one of an orchestra chef. As an orchestra chef and composer, i work with other people as well: i have a solo pianist (my sub contractor), performing musicians (construction workers), an audience (the culture of a city), instrument quality (budget of a project), the sales office for tickets of the concert (the developer and his team, they must sell all units to ensure maximum profits), and the guys in the audience who come in late, cough all the time and make all sorts of unnecessary noises during the concert (The planning department).

I can’t bring a british budget, to a Mersin project or a swiss culture to an Adana project.. I have to make the best out of what is given to me as an orchestra chef within his region, I cannot choose my musicians, so i will strive to make them play the best of their capabilities.

If I was an orchestra chef in the West, the way i conduct would be very different.