In the West-oriented educational setting of the 1920s, as part of the Ministry of Education’s initiative to send successful students abroad to help them gain […]
Nazimî Yaver Yenal as a Turkish “Paper Architect”
As in the case of Yenal’s drawings, the type of architecture that remains unconstructed, or more precisely, not intended for construction and thus severing its […]
Academy of Fine Arts: The Cautious Allure of Institutions
Upon his return to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1932, Yenal found himself in the midst of an important reform process. Once the Republic […]
Haydarpaşa Train Station Roof Renovation Project Competition
In 1917, as World War I on full swing, the towers and roof of Haydarpaşa Train Station were burned and considerably damaged due to a […]
The First Architectural Project Competition for Ankara in the Republic Era
In his final year at the school of architecture in 1925, Nazimî Yaver won his first victory outside the school at a competition entitled, “single […]
Modernism: Paris and Berlin
In the West-oriented educational setting of the 1920s, as part of the Ministry of Education’s initiative to send successful students abroad to help them gain experience, Nazimî won first place in the first European architectural competition organized by the Academy of Fine arts in the 1927-28 term and won the award of traveling to Paris, followed by Berlin. A traditional part of the education of the Turkish intellectual elite since Ottoman times, this European experience was made possible for Nazimî as part of the scholarship he had won.
Despite the prevailing art deco movement in Paris, Nazimî was more interested in modernism, which was considered avant-garde at the time. Nazimî returned to Turkey in 1930 to complete his military service. In 1931, he moved to Berlin in 1931 once again on a grant. He was admitted to leading German architect Hans Poelzig’s “Meister Atelier” (workshop-school). While fully embracing modernism he was drawn to in Paris, he grew closer to the international avant-garde line and completely detached himself from the academic eclecticism given through stylistic experimentations. While fully embracing modernism he was drawn to in Paris, he grew closer to the international avant-garde line and completely detached himself from the academic eclecticism given through stylistic experimentations. Nazimî Yaver’s drawings this period are all mounted on art déco pass-partouts of different colors. Marked as “Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris Modern Studies,” each one of the drawings bear the signatures of two architects and feature the following inscription: “Ö. Nazimi Yaver, Arsitekt – Meister Atelier Professor Hans Poelzig, Technische Hochshule und Akademi der Kunst, Berlin, Charlottenburg.”
The drawings in which Nazimî Yaver theorized modernism on paper during his Berlin period approaches design issues solely as educational experiments. The works do not assume any social missions. They are not speculative. Fantasy never evolves into utopia, carry any intentions of social critique through utopist or dystopian provocations and engage in alternative future constructs. The proposals are functional and realistic.
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