The Concept of Genius Loci in Architectural Education: An Architectural Studio Experience

Abstract

Nowadays, architectural design, which does not bear the spirit of place whereNthe relation of place is broken, has not been touched by the architecturalNfeatures. Considering that one of the most important issues in architecturalNeducation is to expand the students' perspectives, this study argues that theNawareness of the organic connection of the space and the spirit of the place atNthat arises from the interaction of these two can be gained through theNeducation of architecture. The aim of this article is to investigate how the placeNis used as a contextual data in architectural design and how it is formed in anNarchitectural structure through student projectsNFor this purpose, in order to enable students to think about the spirit of theNplace in the studios and to internalize the subject and increase theirNawareness by creating various projects. In this context, Konya TechnicalNUniversity Faculty of Architecture and Design, Department of ArchitectureN2018-2019 Fall Semester Studio 6 students were asked to design a boutiqueNhotel project using location-specific data in Sille.NIn this context, prior to the beginning of architectural project design, conceptual discussions and presentations on the subject and physical codes related to the ground (topography, vegetation, climate data, environmental texture and scale, local architecture, local material) and perceptual codes (tradition, socio-cultural data) were analyzed. By analyzing the students, Sille has taken socio-cultural, geographical, historical, natural and architectural features. They have developed spatial suggestions according to their analysis and needs program. At the end of the design process, it was seen that the students successfully interpreted the codes related to the location and transferred these data to the boutique hotel projects they designed.