Planning
an evolving morphology >>
Courtyards/Planes
>>
The Grid >>
Modularity >>
Accumulation
>>
Creating Gestalt >>
Shape
Grammars >>
"...The unimposing and loosely ordered cluster of buildings of the second court could only be perceived as a unified whole through court ceremonial. European and Ottoman sources stress equally that ceremony overshadowed the architectural framework. Since architectural distractions were minimal, the observer-participant was compelled to concentrate on the ceremonial activities. In this vast theater, with its cast of thousands of slave soldiers and courtiers, the absent sultan was represented by the centrally placed third gate... The perpetuation of ceremonial communicated a message of timeless order and stability, bestowing permanence and legitimacy on an arbitrary social construct. Its power lay in constant repetition, enacted in an eery silence, as if time had been temporarily suspended by an endless recurrence. It froze time into an eternal present and created the illusion of an order transcending mere human experience. [*].
Just as the palace
today, without its ceremonial content, is an empty husk so is this first
version of the project nothing but a shell, a receptacle waiting to
be filled with content that will bring it alive as the project progresses:
This, the first phase is solely a design investigation, a research of
formal elements, of what enables the palace to manifest itself as one
construct isnce such a structural investigation constitutes the ground
work for subsequent work.
"Planning" an evolving morphology
"...The palace museum as it exists today, an empty stage, is generally assumed to be the result of a gradual accretion of buildings, the whim of successive sultans over the centuries. Its early history soon reveals, however, that the basic layout remained as it was first conceived, from the very beginning, even after centuries of remodeling, because the imperial symbolism encoded in its ceremonial and institutional organization tolerated little change. Its unchanging structural skeleton embodied an Ottoman language of imperial power....
...Mehmed's successors preserved the original layout of the New Palace so tenaciously that the range of possible architectural transformations was severely curtailed. Throughout the sixteenth century each sultan added new structures to the palace to accommodate its growing population and to enrich the extent of its luxurious royal quarters, but the basic skeletal structure of Mehmed's extensively renovated complex was not tampered with..." [*].
Cross sections of the palace from the 15th and 17th centuries. [**]
The architectural history of the palace seems to have followed a predefined plan which was flexible enough to accomodate the subsequent growth. Given the extent to which the architecture of the palace was built around court ceremony; proof that Mehmed II had this subsequent evolution in mind can be found in his Kanunname, the dynastic legal document which codified court ceremeonial:
"....This kanunname is the tradition of my father and forefather and it is also my tradition. Let my honorable descendants according act to it one generation after another... ...The circumstances of sovereignty have been regulated this much. From now on let my honorable descendants strive to improve it..." [*].
Courtyards/Planes
Just as the Topkapı palace, the virtual palace is built upon/around
three planes: In the actual palace these three planes manifest themselves
as the three huge assymetrical courtyards around which the buildings
are clustered. In the virtual project these courtyards are represented
with 3 semi-transparent white, trapezoidal planes, which are placed
at angles to one another.
The courtyards of the palace
The
planes of the virtual environment
In a virtual environment, where the mundane restricitons of gravity no longer apply access on the X axis can be accomplished without cumbersome staircases or elevators. Thus the planes are stacked upon one another forming virtual storeys. These can be traversed seamlessly, with no collision, utilising of the "x", "y" and "z" axes by fluid motion.
Courtyards only utilise the "y" and "z"
axes, whereas the virtual planes utilise the "x", "y"
and "z" axes...
Screenshot
from VRML builder, showing the three stacked "courtyard" planes
in isometric view.
Unlike its brick and mortar counterpart, in a virtual 3D environment
these planes can also tilt at angles, adding to the assymetry.
Screenshot from VRML builder, showing
tilted planes
Screenshot from environment showing tilted
planes
The
Grids
The clusters of buildings around the three courtyards are placed upon
grids, which due to the trapezoidal shapes of the courtyards converge
at angles with the overall layout: This system was maintained in the
design of the virtual palace, by implementing trapezoidal planes, which
are also placed at angles. Since the grids of the virtual construct
follow those of the planes we end up with grid formations juxtaposed
at angles.
Grids
of the palace
Virtual
Grids...
Modularity
The modular system of the palace is immediately
apparent when visiting the palace but is also amply documented in Sedat
Hakkı Eldem's book: In the kitchens this system is propogated by a lining
up of rows of constructs which are identical in size and appearance.
In other places, especially the mazelike Harem, the modularity is less
apparent in that the constructs differ in size and also because of ornamentation.
Nonetheless, an examination of the cross sections of the Harem from
Eldem's book below will demonstrate a modular system, utilising coefficient
incrementation; and achieved mostly by the replication of a basic structure
made up of 4 columns, the ottoman arches and topped by either a dome
or a flat pyramidial roof.
The Kitchens [**]
Cross-sections of the Harem [**]
The structures, with extended awnings which are such a strong reminder of the Ottoman military tents also use the same system of columns/arches forming the colonnades which support these awnings outside and domed roofs inside. These awnings were not integrated into the design of the virtual palace at the present time. A future generative shape grammars version of the project, however, is expected to utilise these awnings as a design parameter.
Tentlike structures [**]
A module was designed based upon the primary characteristics of the typical encountered at the palace: 4 columns culminating in the very typical pointed arches of Ottoman architecture, which support a domed roof, the proportions of which are based upon the architectural renderings of S. H. Eldem [**].
Virtual module
Following the example of the actual palace this module was replicated to form arched colonnades which ran outside central modules at twice the size, similar to the tent-like structures.
Clustered loosely to form constructs similar to the kiosks of the Hanging
Gardens.
In tight formation to form colonnaded mazes similar to those of the
Harem.
Placed side by side to form colonnades which join the clusters of the
virtual palace...
VRML
builder view of modular structure.
The modules were used in two sizes, with a coefficient incrementation of 2 to 1. These were grouped in clusters with large central modules surrounded by rows of smaller ones, forming constructs whereby the structure of the tent buildings, the colonnades surrounding the courtyards as well as the maze-like Harem could be investigated.
The screenshots above were taken from the same vantage point at three different construction phases as a documentation of the cumulative nature of the construct, this being a prerequisite of an evolving morphology. The grid, the assymetrical layout and especially the modularity were instrumental in creating cohesion despite growth.
Creating
Gestalt
The environment was assembled to provide an understanding of the palace's
architecture, an analysis of the design components that brought about
the integration of this extraordinary building by creating a virtual
construct using some of the design parameters of the palace. However,
a virtual environment provides additional challenges and thus further
complications against which the emerging Gestalt could be tested were
also brought into play:
-
The trapezoidal planes were placed not only at angles but also stacked and tilted.
-
The three primary colours of red, yellow and blue were used deliberately to further complicate cohesion.
-
Clusters were flipped vertically. Although this was initially done as a Gestalt exercise, in the event this was found to closely follow an actual feature of the palace herself: Topkapı was renowned for her pools and the reflections of the buildings within them. The flipped virtual constructs provide this illusion of water and reflections, becoming one of the most compelling elements of this incarnation of the project.
Three primary colours
Unexpeted reflections.
Shape
Grammars
Terry
Knight says that “A shape
grammar is a set of shape rules that apply in a step-by-step way
to generate a set, or language, of designs. Shape grammars are both
descriptive and generative. The rules of a shape grammar generate or
compute designs, and the rules themselves are descriptions of the forms
of the generated designs”.
By setting specific computational parameters, this methodology can be put to good use in the creation of numerous generative environments that can compute how transient and also ambulatory content is best accomodated in evolving architectures; and even more importantly whether such content is instrumental in the creation as well as the structure of the spaces that it ultimately inhabits. This phase is only a navigable environment; it is not yet animated or interactive. These attributes, however, will definitely be manifest at later stages alongside generative abilities and are thus taken into consideration whilst designing the 3D structure even at this early stage.
While they have not come into play during this version, Shape Grammars applications will be of high value in seeking solutions to design problems that were encountered during this phase, which lead to results that were not conducive to cohesion/gestalt:
-
Tilting the planes, with their attached clusters proved to be highly problematic, creating a chaotic, confusing environment that was also unpleasant to the eye.
-
A virtual interpretation of the tent-like structures was undertaken since these are so much part of the palace's architecture. Again, what emerged was less than satisfying and was thus not used in the design of version 1.
Tilting the planes needs more work.
Solutions to these problems will be reattempted with Shape Grammars, where it is to be hoped that the designed application(s) will produce sufficient generations to shape a solution towards creating a morphology which is fluid not only in content but also in form.
[*]
Necipoğlu, G.
"Architecture, Ceremonial and Power: Topkapı Palace in the Fifteenth
and Sixteenth Centuries". Cambridge, MA: MIT 1991.
[**] Eldem, S.H. Akozan, F. “Topkapı Sarayı: Bir mimari araştırma”.
Milli Eğitim Basımevi. Istanbul. 1982
