Revisiting Constantinos Doxiadis’s entopia as a place theory

Download

index.pdf

Date

2014

Author

Pak, Melodi

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

271
views

123
downloads

The thesis makes an analysis of Constantinos Doxiadis’s “Entopia” (in-place), which was suggested as a building system to counter the dystopian conditions of the 1960s. Since Entopia was raised as a new concept for the “betterment” of human settlements, the thesis aims to examine its historical and spatial context by investigating its “uniqueness” among its contemporaries. The study will re-open a discussion of Ekistics (the Science of Human Settlements) that dates back to the 1940s that dealt with Entopia “as” a place theory. Embodying the criticism of the architectural and urban trends of the day, Entopia was coined as a practicable concept between the “unbuildable” utopia and the “existing” dystopia by Doxiadis in 1966 as a complementary term among Ekistics. It was his intention in this regard to prepare for the oncoming world city – Ecumenopolis – with Entopia referring to a “place” that is both buildable and livable with applicable principles. Entopia suggests a Dynapolis (dynamic city) model, with a grid plan and urban tissues that are based on the human scale for future settlements, sharing the Modernist environment of the war-veteran European cities. In this context, four historical facts are discussed as mediums for the building of the historical context of Entopia: the Athens Charter, as an example of published modernist principles in urbanism; the grid plan and linear city, as the examples of Entopia’s dynamic-city model; modernist utopias, as examples for other “…topia” projections; and the place theories of the 1960s, to interpret the contemporary debates of Entopia. This is followed by an examination of the architectural appearances of Entopia in the works of Doxiadis.

Subject Keywords

Architecture, Modern., Urbanization., Cities and towns., Human settlements.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12617078/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/23440

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

A New ontological approach to urban form: towards a model of heterarchy / Temizel, Ensar; Bilsel, Fatma Cânâ; Sargın, Güven Arif; Department of Architecture (2014) This thesis focuses on the ontology of urban form in order to develop a strategy to explore the formal capacities of the elements of urban environments. Through an analysis of the structural logic behind the systems of hierarchy and heterarchy with regard to the set theory, it argues that the tree model is inadequate for this endeavor with its highly rigid, genealogical binary structure. Hence, it proposes that the set-dependent tree model based on principles of hierarchy should be abandoned in favor of a s...
An Ontological inquiry on potentials of criticality and conceptualization of program in architecture Kızıl, Sinan Cem; Sargın, Güven Arif; Department of Architecture (2017) The relation between architecture and social change is one of the key themes in historical discourse of architectural theory. The tradition of criticality has been consolidated after enlightenment and it caused distrust towards norms of architecture. Even though this tradition of criticality eventually turns to its roots and criticises the ideals of enlightenment in postmodern discourses, it is clear that namely postmodern architectures still subjected to criticism similar to their modernist predecessors. I...
Historical contuinity: three modernist masters, their precedents and descendants Mollazadeh, Aslı; Balamir, Aydan; Department of Architecture (2014) The aim of this thesis is to uncover the relation between the concept of historical continuity and architectural modernism. Modernism in architecture has often been conceived as a movement that rejects history. The buildings of modernist masters have been seen alien to their environments and the cultural values of the society. Although there have been many studies disproving this widespread opinion, the continuing effects of modernist works on today's architectural environment haven't been fully understood....
Locating the structure-agency dichitimy in architecture : workers' club as a type of social condenser in the Sovites 1917-32 Önen, Hasan İsben; Sargın, Güven Arif; Department of Architecture (2006) This thesis focuses on the Soviets after the October Revolution, between 1917 and 1932, in which architecture was seen as the crucial aparatus to transform the society. Within this framework it approaches to social condensers which were perceived as architectural foresights and buildings that aim to transform the society and promote a new, collective way of life and relocates the (social) structure and agency dichotomy in architecture. Furthermore the effort of the creative individual (agent) to preserve hi...
The Transformation of gecekondu phenomenon via visual and spatial narratives Özalp, Öncü; Sargın, Güven Arif; Department of Architecture (2017) This thesis aims narrating the transformation of gecekondu phenomenon from use to exchange value via visual and spatial narratives by starting from the 1940s to the first half of the 1980s in Turkey. While the concentration of important breaks and ruptures during this transformation process are evaluated through discussions on use value of space and representations indicating visual narratives of successive spatial changes of gecekondu in its commodification process, the spatial qualities it possesses are e...

Citation Formats

M. Pak, “Revisiting Constantinos Doxiadis’s entopia as a place theory,” M.Arch. - Master of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, 2014.