Mimarlıkta "etki"ye "mem" kavramı üzerinden epidemiyolojik bakış
An epidemiological view of "influence" in architecture through the concept of "meme"
Yazar: HİLAL KAYNAR
Danışman: PROF. DR. NURBİN PAKER KAHVECİOĞLU
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimari Tasarım Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2023
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture
Dizin: Epidemiyoloji = Epidemiology ; Etkinlik = Efficiency ; Mimarlık = Architecture ; Mimarlık dergisi = Mimarlık journal ; Taklitçilik = Mimicry

Özet:
Tarih boyunca görsel ve yazınsal sayısız üretimden oluşan mimarlık ortamı, yeni yapılacak üretimler için de düşünsel bir zemin oluşturmuştur. Mevcut ortamla ve önceki üretimlerle ilişkilenme şekilleri ve bu duruma yaklaşımlar, her dönemin yaratıcılık ve üretim anlayışına göre çeşitlilik göstermekle birlikte, özellikle modernizmle beraber yerini istenmeyen ve açığa çıkma ihtimali endişe yaratan etkiye bırakmıştır. Yaratıcılığın ve özgünlüğün ön planda olduğu bir disiplin olan mimarlıkta, özellikle yoğun bir bilgi sağanağı altında kaldığımız günümüzde, inşa edilen yapılar, projeler, yazılanlar ve konuşulanların sürekli dolaşımda olmasıyla oluşturdukları etkinin kaçınılmazlığı ve bu durumun kabul görmesinin zorluğunun yarattığı ikircikli durum tez çalışmasının çıkış noktasını oluşturmaktadır.
Tez çalışmasının amacı, mesafelenilen bir durum olmak yerine, fikirlerin yayılım gücünü olağan kabul ederek, mimarlık ortamındaki yansımalarının izinin sürülmesidir. Çalışma öncelikle tarihsel perspektifte bireyler arası aktarımların farklı şekillerini inceleyerek, taklit ve etki kavramlarını bu bağlamda tartışmakta, ardından etki olgusunun doğasını kavramak üzere bilişsel süreçler ve kültür çalışmaları aracılığıyla disiplin dışı yaklaşımlara başvurarak, tezin kurgusunun oluşturulmasında getirdikleri farklı bakış açılarından yararlanmaktadır. Bu yaklaşımlar doğrultusunda, kültürü inceleyen ve fikirler, şarkılar, sloganlar, giysi modaları ve yapım yöntemleri gibi zihinden zihine aktarılan ögelere "mem" adını vererek, "mem"lerin eşlenmesiyle kültürel iletimin gerçekleştiği fikrine dayanan memetik kuram, etkiyi oluşturan aktarım mekanizmalarını anlamlandırmak üzere ele alınmaktadır. Memetik kuramdan ödünç alınan "mem" kavramı, zihinden zihine eşlenerek etkinin oluşumunu sağlayan birimler olarak değerlendirilmekte, mimarlıkta etkiyi incelemek için kavramsal bir araç olarak kullanılmaktadır.
Yalnızca zihinlerde değil, iletişim ortamlarının kendisinde de bulunan "mem"lerin, bu ortamlardan beslenen mimarlık aktörlerinin zihinlerine eşlenmesi fikri, mimarlık medyasının üretimleri yönlendirme ve etki alanı oluşturmadaki etkin rolüne işaret ederken aynı zamanda mimarlık medyası, yapılan yeni üretimlerin mevcut ortama katıldığı ve etki alanlarının okunması için zemin sağlayan bir "mem havuzu" olarak değerlendirilmektedir.
Literatür araştırmalarından elde edilen kavramsal çerçeve doğrultusunda tez çalışmasında, mimarlık medyasında dolaşımda olan ve "mem" olarak belirlenen bazı kavramların etki alanlarını okumaya çalışmak ve bu doğrultuda bir okuma yöntemi geliştirmek amaçlanmıştır. Bu bağlamda etkinin bulanıklaşan, tespiti ve takibi zor olan doğası göz önünde bulundurularak, etki alanlarının incelenmesi için izlenebilir bir zemin sağlaması açısından, yazınsal mimarlık ortamı ve bu ortam aracılığıyla aktarılan kavramlar ele alınmaktadır.
Bir bulaşma ya da enfeksiyon olarak da değerlendirilen "mem" yayılımını incelemede, tıpta hastalıkların belirli bir popülasyon içindeki görülme sıklığı, dağılımı ve hastalık oluşumunu etkileyen faktörleri araştıran "epidemiyoloji"yle analoji kurularak, belirlenen kavramlara dair üç dergi üzerinden bir tür epidemiyolojik inceleme yapılmakta, bir başka deyişle epidemiyolojik inceleme aracılığıyla, sayısal verilerin görselleştirilmesi sayesinde "mem"lerin yayılımı ve etki alanlarını görünür kılmak üzere bir okuma yöntemi geliştirilmektedir.
Sonuç olarak, mimarlığın sürekli karşı karşıya kaldığı etki olgusuna, içinde bulunulan yerden bir adım dışarı çıkarak öncelikle etkinin kendi doğasını anlamak üzere alan dışı yaklaşımlar geliştirmek, konunun kavranışına yeni açılımlar getirmiştir. Mimarlık medyasının, mimarlık ortamındaki üretimlerin belirli etki alanları çerçevesinde şekillenmesinde etkin rol oynadığı öne sürülebilir. Bu etki alanlarının görünür kılınması, üretimlerin farklı bir bağlam aracılığıyla değerlendirmesi ve yeni ilişkilerin keşfedilmesinde, epidemiyoloji aracılığıyla geliştirilen okuma yönteminin güçlü potansiyellere sahip olduğu düşünülmektedir.

Abstract:
The architectural environment, which consists of numerous visual and literary productions throughout history, has also created an ideational ground for new productions. The ways of relating to the architectural environment, previous productions, and approaches to this situation vary according to each period's creativity and production percept. Especially with the self-determination attitude of modernism, the relationship with the predecessors was rejected in new productions, and imitation left its place to the influence that caused anxiety. In architecture, a discipline in which creativity and originality are at the forefront, it is impossible to avoid the influence, especially in today's world, where we are exposed to an intense flow of information due to the constant circulation of projects, images, and texts. In this context, the paradox created by the inevitability of the influence and the difficulty of its acceptance constitutes the starting point of the thesis. The study aims to observe the reflections of the spreading ideas in the architectural environment by accepting their spreading power as usual rather than being ignored.
The thesis consists of five sections; the first section explains the study's aim, scope, and method. In the second section, the different forms of interpersonal interaction are examined from a historical perspective, and the concepts of "imitation" and "influence" are discussed in this context. In addition, in this section, the word "influence" is examined etymologically, and it is seen that it is highly related to the word "infect". As with infection, for influence, it is the case that any idea (such as a virus or bacteria) is copied to a new host and takes that host under its influence. The fact that the influence is an undesirable and unnoticed phenomenon that can be captured through ordinary exposure also makes it possible to look at it with a pathologized understanding. The influence occurs when the ideas are placed in the mind unconsciously and participate in forming new thoughts. This situation paves the way for examining cognitive processes in this context. In this line, non-disciplinary approaches such as cognitive processes and cultural studies are consulted to comprehend the nature of the influence phenomenon, and the different perspectives they provided are used in the formation of the thesis structure. Approaches are common in that ideas and representations form similar ideas and representations since they are contagious and transmitted to other individuals. In this process, two kinds of spreadings exist, intra-mind and inter-mind. Intra-mind processes that occur in individuals (such as architectural design process and creativity) are outside the scope of the thesis, and since the study deals with the influence that occurs between individuals, it focuses on the state of inter-mind spreading. At this point, the memetic theory, shaped by Dawkins' hypotheses and focuses on transfer between minds, comes to the fore. Evaluating cultural evolution with the help of an analogy he established from the field of genetics, Dawkins conceptualized the units of transmission between minds and named them "memes". In this context, Dawkins' theory also provides a basis for the concepts that the study will borrow. In brief, the influence is accepted as a state of inter-mind spreading and associated with the memetic theory.
The memetic theory that explains cultural transmission is discussed in the third section. The theory is based on the idea that cultural transmission occurs with the help of items that are spread from mind to mind, such as ideas, songs, slogans, clothing fashions, and production methods, which it calls "memes". In this context, the memetic theory will be used to explain the transmission mechanisms that emerge the influence. The concept of "meme", borrowed from memetic theory, is evaluated as the units that provide the emergence of the influence by leaping from brain to brain and is used as a conceptual tool to examine the influence in architecture. In this section, after the memetic theory and the concept of "meme" are introduced, the replication of memes, their replicating environments, tools, and their relations with the mass media are discussed. At the end of the section, the changes that occur in the emergence of the influence with the developments in the architectural media are examined. At this point, what are the equivalents of memes in the architectural environment, and in which environments are memes found? questions were asked. In line with the conceptual framework, it has been deduced that all kinds of design ideas and methods, structural elements, styles, principles, discourses, representation techniques, concepts, etc. transferred from mind to mind can be considered memes.
Memes exist not only in minds but also in the communication medium itself. Therefore, leaping into the minds of architectural actors who benefit from these environments points to the active role of architectural media in directing productions and creating a sphere of influence. At the same time, the architectural media such as books, magazines, manifestos, exhibitions, competitions and awards is considered a "meme pool" where new productions are added to the existing environment, and providing a basis for observing spheres of influence. The increasing number of memes in the architectural environment will indicate certain spheres of influence that dominate the media. Memes in these environments show different survival achievements. For example, some of them be selected rapidly, while others can spread by continuing to replicate for a long period. The differences in survival achievements are related to the selection criteria of memes.
The fourth section, in line with the conceptual framework obtained from the literature research, aims to develop a reading method to investigate the influence of the concepts circulating in the architectural media and determined as memes. Considering the blurred nature of the effect, which is difficult to detect and follow, it was found appropriate to examine the literary architectural environment that provides a traceable ground for observing the influence and the concepts transferred through it.
In studying the spread of meme, which is considered a contagion or infection, "epidemiology", which studies and analyzes the frequency of occurrence, distribution, and determinants of diseases within a defined population, is used. Through the established analogy, a kind of epidemiological analysis is carried out over three journals on the determined concepts. Thus, by visualizing numerical data, a reading method is developed to make the distribution and sphere of the influence of memes visible.
The concepts to be focused on as memes in the study are determined by analyzing the titles in the journal sample. Mimarlık, Arredamento Mimarlık, and XXI Mimarlık Dergisi, three journals with a long-term publication life in Turkey that include articles in a broad perspective from the architectural agenda to theoretical discussions, constitute the journal sample of the study. After the analysis of the titles, a "meme pool" was created, and the distribution and influence graphics of the concepts such as "sustainability" and "participation", which are prominent in number in the "meme pool", were revealed. In addition, the graphics of seventeen concepts that have the potential to show their spheres of influence are also given. The graphs created on the timeline allow us to track the years in which the frequency of concepts in the meme pool has increased and decreased. As a result of the graphs, it is observed that the selected concepts have different spheres of influence. It is observed that production concentrates on concepts such as "sustainability" and "participation" in specific periods. Concepts such as "non-standard architecture" and "metamorphosis" are selected without creating a significant influence, although they were published in three journals in the same year. On the other hand, it has been seen that the concept of "computer-aided design" is gradually being transformed and evolved into the concept of "digital design", while the concept of "modern (-ist, -ism)" maintains its influence throughout the specified time, showing high fertility in the long term.
"Meme complex", in which a meme comes together with other memes and connect in a way that support each other's survival, are also analyzed. Thus, other memes belonging to the meme complex, in which the concepts of "sustainability" and "participation" are included, were also examined, and the influence graphs they created together were given. This graph shows that memes in meme complex establish relationships that support each other's existence and strengthen their spheres of influence together. In 2009, when the concept of "sustainability" was seen the most, it was observed that the number of other memes in the meme complex, such as "energy sensitive design", "ecology", "decarbonization," and "solar energy," increased and diversified. It can also be said that the influence that occurs at this point derives other concepts. The possible reasons for the observed increase and decrease in the spread of memes are excluded from the scope of the thesis because it is the subject of another study that requires a deep investigation into the concepts. The thesis study is limited to this point because it aims to reveal that the productions of the architectural environment are shaped within the framework of certain spheres of influence. However, the developed reading method and the "meme pool" provide guidance for future studies and many research questions. In the conclusion section, after the evaluation of the results obtained from the case study, new information that can be made visible by applying the developed reading method to other environments and concepts is mentioned, and suggestions are made for future studies. Finally, how the developed reading method will contribute to architectural theory is questioned.
As a result, developing out-of-field approaches to discuss the influence phenomenon that architecture constantly faces has brought new perspectives to understanding the subject. It can be argued that the architectural media plays an active role in shaping the productions in the architectural environment within the framework of certain spheres of influence. It is thought that the developed reading method has strong potential in making these spheres of influence visible, evaluating productions through a different context, and discovering new relationships.