
Photo by: Foto / Photo by: Thomas Mayer

Photo by: Foto / Photo by :Thomas Mayer

Photo by: Foto / Photo by: Thomas Mayer
THE FACTORY
The ground has evaporated.
History is dead.
The world is one: One big market.
All that is genuine has been replaced by just one thing:
Spectacle.
A world of spectacle…
Where architecture treads on increasingly slippery ground…
Where spaces are no longer to be experienced but are the handmaidens of representation…
Where buildings are not just recognized as icons but are designed to be iconic…
Where cities are cobbled together from off-the-shelf components…
This is the world that the factory was born into.
Delving both the context of a work of architecture and the world of its actors, “THE FACTORY” is an exhibition which tells the story of the İpekyol Textile Factory, a building designed by EAA-Emre Arolat Architects that received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2010. The owners of the factory, the firm of İpekyol, are considered in terms of the relationship between Fashion and Image, the unfolding of the factory from its initial conception, and the interaction of the project with a capitalist economic system. At the same time, the architectural approach of the authors of the building, the firm of EAA-Emre Arolat Architects, is considered in the context of today’s architectural practices. The concept of “place”, which is becoming increasingly more difficult to define, is once again reflected upon while consideration is given both to the people of Edirne and to the people who work at the factory.
Exploring the building-actor relationships that were entered into during all the stages of the structure’s evolution from initial recognition of need to concept, design, and use, “THE FACTORY” also asks what the building has given back to everyone who has been involved.