Trabzon is a coastal city on the banks of the Black Sea in Turkey. Squeezed between the mountains and the sea, there is an old mosque overlooking the horizon: the Trabzon Hagia Sopia…
The aim of Redefining Boundaries is to discuss the role of democratic space in contemporary Trabzon. The idea is to develop a relation that priorities social interactions and in th process redefine the boundaries to allow for public engagement and negotiation.
The dissertation designedly explores Richard Sennett’s democratic model and investigates if and how this could work in the context of Trabzons Hagia Sophia?
A first way into this exploration is the historical practice of the miniature drawing as an architectural tool to explore coexistence and interval.
The dissertation creates contemporary miniature drawings as an architectural tool and method of design-driven research.
Through these drawings, the question on how boundaries van be re-negotiated in order to induce civic spaces. The Trabzon Hagia Sophia acts as a testing ground for an architectural discourse on democratic space and at the same time aims to explore civic and democratic potential.