Principles, Obsessions, Desires

Table Exhibition #1

In an effort to describe what a ‘Table Exhibition’ might constitute, Selçuk Avcı was asked by the first annual curator of the future Architecture Gallery, Pelin Derviş, to be the first to open his Table to the visitors of The Circle.

Avcı’s Table, which will focus on the last twelve months of his professional life, should be observed as part of a living narrative, one that is continuing, layering upon itself, and embracing change. The process of observation is structured by three words that describe his process. The first is derived from his background of education and training as an architect, the principles that drive his work: the idea of a rational analysis, which is tempered by an intuitive response to context - the genius loci - the program and the community for whom this program is intended. Underlying the notion of principles is a kind of obsession which has been with Avcı from the very beginning, namely the idea of the building or built environment as a living organism that interacts with its ecology and aims to form a balance, giving to the environment more than it is taking from it, whenever possible. And finally, it is the untempered desires, the needs that drive Avcı’s personality and character in his architecture and give it its shape and form, that are looked at.

The narrative formed on the Table - and by reflection, on the walls - gives a linear view of the past twelve months, while also revealing the other ‘dimensions’ that Avcı embodies as an architect: as the founder of a cultural institute, as an ‘envisioner’ developing a commercial understanding of architecture, and a maker who engages with the construction of our world.