Biyoteknolojinin entegrasyonu ile beden-mekan etkileşiminin yeniden ele alınması
Re-defining the body-space interaction through the integration of biotechnology
Yazar: İPEK KURAN
Danışman: DOÇ. DR. PELİN DURSUN ÇEBİ
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimari Tasarım Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2018
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture

Özet:
İnsan bedeninin sahip olduğu fiziksel sınırlar ve etkileşim kapasitesinin belli bir limiti vardır. Üzerine eklemlenen nesneler tarafından desteklenir, dönüştürülür ve ona sonradan eklemlenen yapı ve sistemler tarafından yeniden ve yeniden bozuma uğratılırken tekrar tekrar inşa edilir, limitleri, etkileşim kapasitesi bu yolla artırılır. Bedenin etkileşim kapasitesini, fonksiyonlarını dönüştüren bedensel eklentiler bedenle bütüncül bir yapı ortaya koyarken bedene ait mekânı şekillendirir. Etkileşim sisteminin parametrelerini tek bir beden üzerinde ortaya koyan bedensel eklentiler, benzer şekilde üretilen mekânsal üretimlerin mikro ölçekte yansıması olarak ele alınabilirler. Böylece birden fazla bedeni bünyesinde barındıran ve bağlamla iç içe geçmiş bir kolektif sistem olarak ele alınacak mekân kavramının anlaşılmasını kolaylaştırır. 
 
Canlılığa dair algı, insan doğasında içkin bir şekilde mevcuttur. Her türlü insan yapımı nesne ve üretim pratikleri, sezgisel ve edimsel olarak canlılık kavramı etrafında şekillenir. Tüm bu insan yapımı nesneler ve üretim pratiklerini içeren mekânsal üretim yöntemleri de, hem bilişsel hem de fiziksel yapıları itibariyle canlılığa dair algıya referens verirken canlılığın kaynağı olan doğal sistemlerin özelliklerini yöntem ve sistemlerine dâhil eder.  
 
Canlılığa dair algı ile birlikte insan yapımı ve doğal sistemlerin etkileşim alanı üzerinden ilerleyecek olan araştırma, biyoteknolojiye ait terminolojinin ortaya koyduğu kavramsal altyapıyı odak noktası olarak alır. Bedenin kapasitesini ve işlevlerini dönüştüren bedensel eklentiler ve mekân üretim pratiklerinin mimarlık ve biyoteknoloji arakesitinde ortaya konulacak dil ve yöntemler ile yeniden şekillendiğinden bahseder.  
 
Bedeni çevreleyen tüm nesneler gibi, mekân da bedensel bir eklenti olarak düşünülebilir. Öte yandan, biyoteknolojinin entegrasyonuula üretilmiş, organizma özellikleri gösteren ve kendine ait bir bedene sahip olan mekân tanımından bahedildiğinde, ona entegre olan diğer bedenlerin mi yoksa mekâna ait bedenin mi bedensel bir eklenti olduğu sorusu ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu muğlak alanda, iç içe geçmiş ve birbirini dönüştüren tekil bir sistemden bahsedilebilir. Bu durumda, bir bedene sahip olmak üzere evirilen mekânın, doğal sistemlerin niteliklerine sahip olduğu söylenebilir. Yarı-sentetik yarı organik ve bir organizmaya benzer özellikler gösteren mekân, dinamik, sürekli değişen, dönüşen ve açık yapısıyla insan bedenini kendi ekosistemine dâhil etmeye başlar. Böylece, insan bedeni, bu devingen yapının bir parçası olarak mekânla arasında "simbiyotik" bir ilişki oluşmasına izin verir. 
Araştırma ortaya konulan bu simbiyotik yapının bileşenlerine odaklanırken, bedenlenen mekân kavramını, bedenin, onu çevreleyen nesnelerle etkileşimi üzerinden ele almaya çalışır. Bedenlenen bir mekânın üretim biçimi ve bileşenleri, mimarlık-biyoteknoloji ara kesitinde incelenmekte ve bu iki disiplin arasında terminolojik olarak akışkan bir dil üretilmeye çalışılmaktadır. Oluşturulan kavramsal alt yapının irdelenmesi ve deneyimlenmesi tez kapsamında üretilen "Expedition Projesi" üzerinden gerçekleşmektedir. Araştırma süresinde bahsedilen yöntemler ve etkileşim biçimleri, Expedition Projesi ile elle tutulur hale gelir. Çalışmaya ait kavramsal altyapı ve yaklaşımlar, gerek tez kapsamında üretilen iş gerekse çalışmada incelenen örnekler üzerinden yorumlandığında, günümüz mimarlığında enstalasyonlar ve küçük ölçekli üretimler ile yer alsa dâhi, gelecekte ortaya konulacak üretim yöntemlerine, doğa ile işbirliği içerisinde üretilmiş, sürdürülebilir bir mimarlığa referans vermektedir.

Abstract:
The physical boundaries and the interaction capacity of the human body are limited. Body is dependent on the external elements surrounding it.  It is supported and transformed by other objects. While the body itself is deconstructed again and again by the extensions and prosthetics that are articulated on it, it is reconstructed and with this way, its interaction capacity is increased. In this context, it could be said that the body needs artificial systems that will increase its capacity and eliminate its missing functions. Every object that attaches to the body, which could have either physical or cognitive qualities, refers to the ontological structure of the body. Simultaneously, it is shaped by its extensions, while it is articulated to them. 
 
The perception of life exists in human nature and also all kinds of man-made objects and practices of production are intuitively shaped around the perception of life. The practices of spatial production, which involve into all these man-made objects and practices of production, are also affected by the perception of life in terms of both its cognitive and physical functions. 
 
The practices of spatial production comprise the vitality and the qualities of living systems into their ontological structure by including energy relations, interactions in macro and micro scales and their physical entity. For artificial systems, when we begin to observe and experience qualities such as movement, behavior schemas that refer to vitality and ability to interact, the way we interact with artifacts becomes much more sophisticated. The boundaries of the artificial and the living systems become blurred. And if the structure of an artificial system shows similar qualities with the living systems, it could be said that it is possible to increase the interaction capacity both between the artificial systems themselves and between artificial and living systems.  
 
The interaction between living systems and artifacts has gained momentum as biotechnology emerged as a leading discipline of twenty-first century. In this case, Neri Oxman mentions a new paradigm in the way we perceive the world. This paradigm takes the "world as an organism" in contrast to the perspective of the First Industrial Revolution and its paradigm "world as a machine". Being different than the first three industrial revolutions, world as an organism paradigm, in which the main focus is infiltrating the vitality into the artificial environments and objects, is not just stay connected and integrated to the natural systems, also includes them in its own game.   
 
In this case, the theory and the practices of spatial production are being reshaped around this new paradigm. Concepts such as ecological systems, complex structures, homeostasis, morphogenesis, evolution and energy relations of organisms are 
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integrated to the architectural language, theory and practice, and a fluent language is being established between architectural terminology and biology. Instead of conventional methods and materials, "self-growing" and "self-organizing" structures become indispensable parts of spatial production methods. And also integration of a cognitive layer to reveal the possibilities offered by the cybernetic systems onto the physical structure, the spatial production begins to expose certain behavioral schemas to show the similar characteristics with living systems. The anticipated spatial qualities emerge in the interaction of technology, man and nature. By differing from the conventional methods of spatial production, the anticipated spatial qualities reveal a system that is continuously evolving with its multi-layered, fluid, and dynamic structure. It could be said that the space, which has almost transformed to be an organism, has a body and it has a potential to define its own area of interaction with other bodies that are articulated to it.  
 
The body emerges as an important concept in carrying the forms of interaction between the living beings and systems to the spatial production processes by establishing a holistic physical structure which defines the field of interaction. In this context, the concept of body is defined as the initial space, flow, and / or dynamism that defines the environmental boundaries of an organism and the area it covers in the space, allowing it to interact, discover and understand the surrounding objects.  
 
The research, which will advance over the interaction field of artificial and living systems, deals specifically with the concepts revealed by biological terminology in terms of both through artificial and living systems. The bodily extensions that transform the capacity and the functions of the body, which is regarded as an initial space, are produced by the methods mentioned and shape the space belonging to the body while laying out a holistic structure with the body. These structures, which reveal the parameters of the interaction system on a single body, emerge as a reflection on a microscale of the spatial productions produced in a similar way. It facilitates the understanding of the concept of space, which is to be taken as a collective system that incorporates more than one body and intertwines with the context.  
 
The developments in technology and biotechnology are considered as important factors in shaping both the human body and the body's interaction area. The body is constantly undergoing a transformation process with the tools provided by the technology and the new pieces attached to it. The bodily extensions transform the body, not just by increasing the capacity of its existing functions, but also by adding new functions. As a result, the body, which is defined as a living organism and its extensions begin to be integrated to each other.  
 
Like all the objects surrounding the body, the space is also could be considered as bodily extension. On the other hand, it is indistinguishable whether a space, which exhibits organism features and evolves towards having a body, or the other bodies that are integrated to it could be considered as a bodily extension. In this case, it could be said that the space which evolves towards to having a body, has the qualities and the characteristics of a living system. In this context, the concept of body is not handled only in relation to being alive. Likewise, when referring to an artificial system or space produced with the potential for interaction that may be mentioned as a body, any living thing or object articulated in this body may be 
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treated as bodily extension. In this case, space begins to include the human body in its own ecosystem with its dynamic, constantly changing, transforming and open structure that exhibits characteristics similar to the body of an organism that have come to the fore from the semi-synthetic semi-organic layers. Thus, the human body permits the creation of a "symbiotic" relationship between the space as a part of structure. 
 
Spaces that design their interaction through their own body take their structural characteristics from the systems belonging to nature. The fluid and nonlinear interaction that the body creates with the external structures which are articulated and interacting with it are explained by the concept of the body schema that can be summarized as a mapping of the body in mind. In this context, the body schema can be found as an important concept in the process of shaping behavioral characteristics and interaction capacity of a space with vitality characteristics. The body schema helps us to produce conceptual information on how our interaction with objects, the environment, and other bodies takes place. The concept of the body schema is articulated in order to reveal the interaction with the body and the interaction of the space with the body. The body schema is not only a mapping in the mind of the body, but its fluid structure invites the external objects to the body. The concepts of space and body disappear and an integrated structure and state of being emerge. 
 
As a result, in the context of this continuous interaction, the area in which the bodyspace interaction takes place, and this coexisting system, is a symbiosis which is connected to the things and the environment surrounding it. Describing the space and the body as a whole, purifying them from its borders and defining this holistic structure as symbiosis prescribes a more functional, open system while expanding the field of interaction. 
 
While this research focuses on the integration of the biotechnology to the spatical production theory and the practices, it tries to reconsider the concept of embodiment through the interaction of the body with the objects surrounding it. As one of the components of the bodily extension, the mode of production and components of the embodied space are studied in the cross section of architecture-biotechnology and attempts are made to produce a fluid language terminologically between these two disciplines. The conceptual sub-structure created and experienced is realized through the "Expedition Project", produced within the scope of the thesis. During the research, the methods and forms of interaction are handled by the Expedition Project. The conceptual background and approaches mention in the study refer to a sustainable architecture produced in cooperation with nature for the future production methodologies.