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ACADEMIC

MASTER THESIS IN ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE AND THE CAR

PLACE WITH CONTINUOUSLY CHANGING BOUNDARIES

SUMMARY

Architecture, as a witness to the existential relationship between humans and space, continuously updates its structural and conceptual integrity in response to changes in human life. This study aims to provide a new commentary on humanity’s journey through different spatial dimensions, using the car as a vital cross-section within architectural and urban platforms. The thesis consists of three main sections, where semantic content expands through spatial perception to examine the realities shaped by humans and machines.

In the first section, the study asserts the changing concepts and balances in human life throughout the modern process. The second section explores the connections among architecture, cars, and cities, which encompass all vital aspects of human and urban spaces. This section seeks to scrutinize the ironic structure of a new spatial concept shaped by the relationship between humans and cars—a concept that exists through perceptual integrity and fluctuates between urban and architectural scales. The third section examines the scale of spatial unity that emerges from the vital relationship between humans and cars, emphasizing the car as a fundamental determinant of urbanism. This section introduces the thresholds formed in human spatial perception by the car, which resembles architectural space through its physical and psychological dimensions, shaped by various human sensations.

PREFACE

This study pursues an intellectual and practical exploration of theoretical and abstract expansions within a multidisciplinary approach and collective consciousness. Additionally, scaled sketching and modeling practices, incorporating annotations from intellectual processes in collage or diagram forms, play a valuable role in the research. These derivative studies, as an anthology and sampling, focus on a careful assessment of abstract spatial dimensions in modern architecture, exploring the interplay of humans, space, cars, motion, and the affiliations of vital contexts that define a mobility perspective in urbanism. These efforts aim to inform the prospective city framework and its dynamics, projecting the significance of cars as a growing phenomenon within this context.

Throughout the study, cars are assessed as embodiments of social consciousness and memory, and they are examined as social constructs that influence cross-cultural communication and postures.

The study also addresses the effects of the interplay between roads and cars within the framework of a city that resembles a living organism defined by several key elements. The continuity of roads within the integral spatial formation of the city and the sensation of speed experienced through cars form central themes of this investigation. Humans manifest themselves in this ongoing journey, seeking to broaden the boundaries of space through the relationships that cars build with cities. This study, therefore, aims to offer a new perspective on the connotations of contemporary architectural paradigms. The connection between humans and machines develops and acquires spatial characteristics, evolving through the integration of numerous perceptions. This evolution creates unique structures within the modern city context, assigning various meanings to cars as objects. Today, while cars exist with spatial integrity in their physical dimensions, they also become integrated with psychological dimensions through various human sensations.

University: Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture
Institute: Faculty of Architecture/Institute of Science and Technology
Science Program: Architecture
Program: Architectural Design
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ferhan Yürekli
Degree Awarded and Date: Master of Science

CONTENT (SUMMARY)

ABSTRACT

Car: Another Space and Another Time for Humans

With their symbolic and aesthetic attributes that inspire diverse explorations of the existential appeals of space and time, cars are among the most significant symbols of the modern era. While fostering a new reinterpretation of modern living configurations, cars also redefine the boundaries of physical and psychological dimensions of space, shifting perceptions toward a new, unprecedented plane. With cars becoming an integral part of our daily lives, the space we inhabit is now defined (scaled and calculated) by time rather than by the physical distance between two locations. Cars, through their ability to navigate various spatial planes, add new dimensions to human existence and shape cognitive structures related to those planes; thus, they represent one of the most pivotal thresholds in the modern interpretative process.

This extraordinary bond between the modern human and the car has transformed the sense of the modern city. Moreover, the new dimensions cars add to spatial perception have sustained a dangerous yet irresistible journey for modern humanity. This century-long relationship between people and cars, characterized by complex emotions and quests, can be regarded as one of the most significant thresholds for understanding and interpreting modern architecture in spatial terms. Cars create a panorama of concepts akin to the abstract implications embodied by a "wall," while simultaneously asserting their physical presence in both disruptive and direct ways.

The motivation behind the advent of car manufacturing extended beyond the creation of a self-operating vehicle; it aimed to serve more individual purposes, fundamentally altering the concept of human commuting (making it faster) and the experience of being on the move. In the context of the enduring significance and value of cars, the concept of individualism remains perhaps the most essential and unchanged phenomenon since those early days. The idea of traveling by car introduced a need to reinterpret various spatial dimensions that transcend mere mechanics and power, enriching human relationships with the surrounding environment.

While cars clutter cities and urban life, they have simultaneously begun to create their own dynamic aesthetic and a panorama of imagery connotations. The sensory experiences associated with the concept of the road—such as leaving, escaping, withdrawing, translocation, placelessness, and nonlocality—have been intensified by the presence of cars and the sense of physical and mental freedom they provide, creating an increasingly addictive allure for humanity. In a car, the surroundings appear to move; thus, cars have the capacity to introduce new dimensions to concepts of space related to movement. They become associated with spaces where speed and freedom are profoundly felt. Furthermore, this entire spatial experience acts as both a stimulus and a catalyst, forming an additional and equalizing space—one that encompasses a unique architectural structure defined by its distinct physical and psychological dimensions for humans.

The original purpose behind the creation of the first car was driven by individual needs to transform human life rather than merely providing public transportation. In this sense, the concept of an accelerated lifestyle can be seen as a product of modernism's attempts to adapt humanity to the constructed framework of a new existence that demands everything follow a sequential order within instantaneous changes. During the early stages of modernism, the increasing speed of life became irrepressible; moreover, people largely experienced the adaptation process to this new reality within their cars, which could also be described as a novel form of social structure and interface. Cars serve as both a marker of modern technology and mechanization, as well as a powerful symbol of the mechanical awareness and operational skills humans had to develop to navigate the dramatically altered living and social conditions of the modern era.

Today, the car occupies a vastly different role from its early prototypes in every conceivable way. Beyond its basic mechanical functionality of transporting people from one place to another, the car now embodies a vital structure shaped by various emotional expressions and spatial perceptions of humanity. At present, we find ourselves in a paradoxical framework in which cars reference speed, vision, emotion, sensation, memory, social cognitive maps, cultural codes, exploration, communication, aesthetics, form, art, and architectural theory. This deep and layered relationship humans have constructed with space has evolved the car into both a social structure and an “entity” integrated within that structure. Simultaneously, cars have developed as nodes within a social network and emerged as a significant paradigm in the evolution of modern architecture. They represent the tangible manifestation of all physical and abstract patterns in which human lives are embedded.

The diversity of the spatial plane between the car and movement amplifies the power of social communication within the car and broadens the cultural dimensions of these interactions. A car, as a moving object, possesses qualities that go beyond merely covering the human body like makeup or clothing; paradoxically, it offers individuals the opportunity to articulate and reveal their existence in unnamed yet familiar social exchanges. Through its inherent mobility, the car's global image secures its presence across different cultures without losing its holistic identity. Similarly, cars, by traversing diverse spatial planes, dissolve the boundaries of identity between places and cultures, functioning as tools of communication.

Today, cars represent significant normative structures, meticulously designed to evoke specific connotations for various social and individual contexts. Alongside their physical and mechanical necessities, the abstract spatial, sensory, paradoxical, imaginative, and cognitive evaluations of movement, acceleration, speed, and translocation form the foundational elements of car design in an aesthetic sense.

Roads have evolved in response to cars, both in their physical form and conceptual significance. Previously defined as static pathways connecting cities based on physical distance, roads have been reimagined as dynamic components of structural integrity in conjunction with cars. In modern life, the presence of cars has influenced city planning parameters, fostering new urban concepts to adapt to the vital changes brought about by this relationship. Moreover, the most fundamental transformation in urban space and planning resulting from these impacts has been the reconfiguration of spatial alignments between roads and their surrounding environments. The interplay between man and machine has reshaped urban space, prompting a reassessment of the concept of the journey. This evolution has led to an approach that extends the spatial boundaries of older cities, integrating roads more comprehensively within their structure.

Today, the perception of modern cities reflects a dynamic semantic structure, animating spaces defined by roads and fostering continuity. Roads now permeate every corner of cities, creating a sense of fluidity and interconnectedness that embodies the profound relationship between cars and urban environments.

The process of explaining and formalizing space, with its physical and psychological dimensions, begins by identifying the most vital aspect through which space validates its own existence: its being. In this context, cars emerge as one of the most fundamental scales for shaping the individual characteristics of urban space while also evaluating human interactions within a social framework influenced by man-to-machine dynamics. Considering that urban space is divided into various subspaces to meet the needs of human life, this underscores the importance of cars in the intricate, multilayered relationships between cities and people. From this perspective, the intersection between urban space and humanity has shifted into a new dimension where cars contribute to this spatial unity. Consequently, the network of meanings forming this dimension is a multilayered construct, extending the boundaries of urban space into undefined realms governed by the principles of motion.

On one hand, cars have catalyzed the development of motorized modernism within the broader modernist progression; on the other, they embody the intrinsic necessity of mobility in human life, particularly within urban spaces. In this sense, the concept of movement—symbolized by drifting away from the ground—has introduced new architectural perspectives on placelessness, influenced by the presence of cars in the modern era. As evolving perceptions of speed and distance transform individuals into perpetual travelers, urban planning adapts accordingly. Highways have supplanted streets, and roads have acquired a layered semantic significance, encompassing notions of change, existence, infinity, and freedom within a conceptual framework.

The idea of existence now elicits the most multifaceted interpretations from humanity in connection with the concept of space, whose borders and dimensions have become increasingly challenging to define. This intimate relationship between humans and machines in the modern era has inspired new pursuits of spatial understanding and interpretations of existence. Within this dynamic, the car has become a defining paradigm, shaping physical and psychological dimensions of space and redefining its role in human life. By introducing a mobile yet paradoxical essence to spatial integration, the car has facilitated transitions between disparate locations, creating entirely new urban configurations and lifestyles across multiple scales.

This existential relationship between man and speed, which arises from instantaneous changes in daily life, has introduced new connotations in urban space through the evolving concept of the road in relation to the car. The mechanical interplay between car and speed has added acceleration—and the need to gain momentum—as a burden on the relationship between city and road, reflecting the ongoing transformations in human life. The car, with its innate drive toward speed, generates a unique sensory experience and heightened awareness that cannot be encountered in any other spatial context. This process unfolds through parameters and references tied to urban space, shaped by instantaneous environmental changes and the intricate interior dynamics of the car. Simultaneously, the driver must continually restructure and reinterpret this experience based on personal perceptions of spatial precision.

A traveler in a speeding car is compelled to redefine the boundaries between inside and outside; speed evokes novel sensations that lead to a reinterpretation of the surrounding environment in spatial terms. The surface formed by the car as an interface between interior and exterior functions as a psychological statement, reflecting tendencies toward introversion or extroversion based on individual preferences. Lyric poet Giacomo Leopardi, a foundational figure in modern Italian poetry, describes the sensation of speed in his diary: "Indeed, this speed nearly arouses a feeling of eternity; it aggrandizes and intensifies the soul." The speed intrinsic to the car enriches its spatial context, invoking a profound sense of eternity in the human experience. The car’s most significant spatial contribution lies in how it transfers the foundational structures of architectural space into dynamic interactions with the surrounding environment. In this way, it becomes a vital and living structure for humans, bearing witness to life.

While the physical and mental fatigue akin to yoga-like exhaustion after long car journeys can provide spiritual insight and personal relief, the road simultaneously transforms into a barrier between silence and chaos in psychological terms. As transportation speeds increase daily, new relationships shaped by non-human senses emerge between man and machine, driven by the necessity of adapting to modern life's relentless pace. The fusion of the car as an object with driving as an action redefines the city as a space of excessive interpretation for humans. In this modern process, where we strive to make sense of our surroundings, cars embody numerous spatial deviations inherent in the act of driving. Within this framework, a road becomes akin to a wall, concealing what lies beyond and dissolving the physical borders of space, which are interpreted and understood by humans through a spectrum of emotional and sensory experiences.

When man reinterprets the scope of time and space inside a car, it represents the first image of existence that comes to mind: to live. The journey of life, as people experience it in its simplest form, becomes both difficult to shape and yet easier with cars. The frequently cited quote, “Home is a machine to live in,” from the modern era, offers an early prognosis of modern man’s mechanical consciousness and serves as a metaphor for the necessity of modern life to function as flawlessly and as quickly as a machine. Considering the home as an architectural unit, it forms the most fundamental spatial space; at the same time, it is the only place where man can leave behind his or her social identity and be authentic. In this sense, it is no coincidence that the home was the most convenient place chosen during the industrial revolution and the machine age to reinterpret the new social order for modern man. The aim of comparing the home to a machine is to draw man closer to this new social order, integrating personal space with social space. The most striking phase of this integration would be actualized by cars, which are one of the most significant indicators of mechanization. As a place, a car represents both a transition and an integration within the space hierarchy, bridging various scales and dimensions. In this way, cars share a common perception of space and can be seen as the spatial unity of life; this body-wide gap is an integrative and unifying venue for people. The physical and psychological parameters of the car's intermediate space, shaped by these integrative dynamics, connect the home corridor to the outer lane for the individual. The home, as the most basic architectural unit, is the starting point for observing complex spatial connections at different levels in everyday life. In this sense, cars serve as an independent and autonomous extension of the home, contributing to the continued integrity of space.

The relationship between personal space and social space gives rise to the need for integration for individuals who must navigate the responsibilities of being part of society. In this sense, the physical space of a car defines a surface between inside and outside while hosting human life. The freedom and shelter provided by cars, in the context of transitions between social and personal spaces, transform into new integrated structures shaped by the hybrid social characteristics of cars. In unison, the interior of a car hosts life—a technological womb that both forms and deforms us.

While a car defines a surface between inside and outside, it also creates a gap that signifies spatial integrity based on vital needs. Beyond being merely an object defined by movement through its plate and glass surfaces, a car is one of the fundamental components of an urban panorama within architectural space patterns and the surrounding environment. The car, which fundamentally altered the concept of the city and reconfigured urban space, prompts us to reconsider the relationship between urban space and architectural space. We are fully aware that cars are not fixed elements of imagination within the city; however, they reappear in the spatial configuration of movements in urban life. Therefore, cars, both through their physical presence and abstract spatial content, are key determinants of modern cities within integrated and paradoxical life structures.

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