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[INTERVIEW] Where Hero-Less Stories Lead: SO? Architecture & Ideas

materials provided by
SO? Architecture & Ideas
edited by
Youn Yaelim

SPACE June 2025 (No. 691)​​

Sky Spotting Stop (2013) / ©Muhsin Akgün 

 

Lost Barrier (2015) / ©SO? Architecture & Ideas​​


Where Hero-Less Stories Lead: SO? Architecture & Ideas​

Interview ​Jeong Jaeheon professor, Kyung Hee University × Park Jiyoun​ 

 

Emerging from Istanbul’s period of political and architectural turmoil, SO? Architecture & Ideas (hereinafter SO?) has possessed an unyielding and defiant nature from the outset. SO?’s immediate responses to the city’s riots, development, regime changes, and disasters have naturally shaped its portfolio.

For SO?, the value of a city lies not in real estate profits, but in equitableness for its citizens, and the purpose of architecture, they believe, is not physical construction, but embracing all existing being. SPACE traces SO?’s working trajectory from the early 2000s to the present day, covering projects such as House of Chickens (2018) and IPA Campus – The Pool, The Warehouse (2022). It is intriguing to consider the way this narrative, which does not platform heroes but features multiple protagonists, will unfold.​ 

 

 

Taking Back the Equitable City

Youn Yaelim (Youn): SO? Architecture & Ideas (hereinafter SO?) was founded in 2007, during a period of unprecedented real estate development in Türkiye. The 1999 earthquake had shocked the nation, leading to large-scale reforms in urban structure and property policy. Against this backdrop, what were the key issues or concerns SO? recognised at the time of its founding?

 

Sevince Bayrak (Bayrak): Our studio was founded during Istanbul’s urbanisation boom, as the city’s reputation rose in the global real estate market. Back the...

 
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Sevince Bayrak, Oral Göktaş
Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş are Istanbul-based architects and co-founders of SO? Architecture & Ideas. Their work spans a wide range of scales and geographies, including SUPRA (2024) in Daegu, Korea; Unexpected Hill (2015) at the Royal Academy of Arts in London; and Lost Barrier (2015) at MAXXI in Rome. In Türkiye, their practice focuses on adaptive reuse and small-scale interventions, from a modular chicken coop to the transformation of a cultural centre and a disused swimming pool. Bayrak and Göktaş are also deeply engaged in research, particularly on temporary and floating architecture in the context of post-earthquake recovery. Projects such as Hope on Water (2018) and Fold & Float (2018) have been exhibited internationally, including at the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, Luma Arles, MAXXI, and the Danish Design Museum. They have delivered lectures at institutions including Seoul National University, Swiss Architecture Museum, Delft University of Technology, and Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in Ljubljana. Bayrak, whose book Bir Meydan Öyküsü: Beyazıt (A Story of a Square: Beyazıt, 2019) is based on her Ph.D dissertation examining the transformation of public space in Istanbul, and is currently an associate professor at MEF University.
FEATURE project SO? Architecture & Ideas Turkiye Turkish Architecture Asian architecture House of Chickens rural revitalisation climate-adaption IPA Campus The Pool The Warehouse adoptive reuse renovation public architecture public space
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