Apartments, one of Ankara’s urban memory’s important legacies, are immortalized this year with the Apartman. press initiative. Apartman. press, which started operating this year within the body of Kovan. lab welcomes the new year with a unique calendar.
The calendar consists of illustrations created by different artists of 12 examples of civil architecture in Ankara. Besides, the stories of the buildings find their way into the calendar sheets.
Urban Memory and Civil Architecture in Ankara
Ankara is one of the wealthiest cities in Turkey in terms of civil architecture. Ankara’s civil structure diversity stands out, even compared to a city with a tremendous historical heritage like Istanbul. Ankara has many examples of living civil architecture, primarily from recent history. These buildings are still standing and used in a very favorable condition in terms of urban memory.
However, in recent years, unconscious interventions and devaluation of some structures have started to reach alarming proportions. With the destruction of the social and cultural heritage, the city residents’ ties with the city were damaged. The young generation is, unfortunately, unaware of Ankara’s rich colonial heritage. Initiatives like Apartman.press are noteworthy in terms of renewing the ties with the city.
Urban Experiments from Kovan.lab
This calendar project is not the only business of Kovan.lab operating in Ankara regarding the city. As the name suggests, Kovan.lab stands out with its experimental works. This Ankara-focused formation goes after designs that touch the city.
The organization, which aims to produce more related to Ankara’s cultural heritage and come together with producers, continues its existence with a new experiment every month. As a result of these experiments, some superior products are produced in limited numbers from time to time. Apartman.press’s desk calendar is one of these particular products.
Seven different artists worked on the illustrations of the 12 apartments on the calendar. Cem Dedekargınoğlu wrote the stories of the buildings. The graphic design of the calendar belongs to Sena Çelebi. Each of the buildings chosen to be included in the calendar is important in Ankara’s urban memory. These are respectively; Bay Mehmet Ali Sönmez Apartment, Büklüm 18 Apartment, Cinnah 19 Apartment, Çankaya 32, 14 Mayıs Houses, 96’lar Apartment, Gemi House, Teras House, Maliye Houses, Erzurumlu Nafiz Bey Apartment, Umurbey 7 House and Güneş Apartment.
The calendar consisting of drawings by Oğuzhan Dağdelen, Onur Kutluoğlu, Dilara Özlü, Rüya İğit, Nermin Öz, Deniz Yıldırım and Bilal Uğur Liman is now available on the website of Apartman.press.