Design Influence(s)
Pafta Magazine has made an interview with Nalbantoğlu on the effects of design on human beings.
1. What are the effects of design on people?
Any design process cannot be completed without considering human factors. Design activity is so powerful that it will benefit from the space being designed, and will directly affect behaviors of people on that space. This effect is felt more in public spaces.
Taking account of this sociological phenomenon of design world affects quality and success.
2.Before starting a Project, how do you observe the behaviors, lifestyles, wishes in the region and how long does it take to do these observations?
Before the design action begins, the socio-cultural and socioeconomic values of the people living in that area, besides the physical conditions of the designing environment, must each individually provide design input as an important criterion. Especially designed space, the people who will benefit from that space will accept, use it as stronger place, is also closely related to its commitment to that place. For this reason, in the design of space, especially in public space design, the people and the traditions, customs, cultures, past values and usage criteria of the people who will use the space and the place are important elements to be considered.
3.When you design a place, how do you decide according to what criteria you want to affect the region and the people and how you want to influence it?
Influencing people through design has been an ongoing phenomenon for thousands of years. It’s a psychological phenomenon at the same time. Before the design begins, we have some determinations and predictions about how and where the space should be used. In fact, this prediction directly affects the behavior of people who will use that space. You are actually directing people’s movements and how they should behave towards the use of that space with designs and lines that you have created yourself. The important thing here is not to alienate people. The reactions that people show in order to make the space easier to perceive or to be more comfortable in the space give us some clues about how behavior should affect people in design.
4.How do you coordinate with different disciplines to create an effective whole that you want to give?
In spatial design, no occupational discipline is now capable of designing space as a whole. Especially in the developing world, problems have also increased. Getting help from different professional disciplines to solve these problems is often very important in terms of the success of design, the success of the space, and the happiness of the people who use the space and the sustainability of the space. For this reason, we have always adopted the principle of working with people from different professional disciplines in our projects.
5.What were your observations and what had you considered, when designing Taksim Square as one of your current projects?
Taksim Square is not only important just for İstanbul, but also one of the most important squares in the world. It is a very important urban space in urban memory. In order to have a decision such a place like this and able to design that place, I think that it is necessary to analyze the past, the memory of the place and the experiences and perceptions of the local and foreign tourists visiting Istanbul together with those living in Istanbul. All these perceptions and the traces of Istanbul’s history, we used different criteria in order to design a square that keeps up with the contemporary world while continuing this historical trail. These criteria consist of sociological, physical, historical and ecological criteria.
6. How will this new design affect people and their everyday life?
The new design of Taksim Square, in fact, takes its claim from controlled urban intervention. We have tried to consider the everyday rituals of the people of Istanbul rather than doing something new and different here. We have suggested routes for the movements of Istanbul people or tourists who use them, taking into consideration all of the clues as to how the pedestrian movements are with the existing transportation system. For this reason, Taksim Square will surprise people with its new stand, but it will not compete with its past, rather will reflect references from the original Prost plan.