Architecture

A Fab Lab is a collaborative environment that provides shared material resources, fabrication processes, tools, and knowledge for experimentation and prototype development. This study connects a previously developed parametric module with an exploratory material-recovery workflow based on recycled cardboard waste generated in the UTPL Fab Lab. The parametric-module geometry had been previously developed and physically fabricated using conventional sheet material. In the present study, small-scale recycled-cardboard cellulose-fiber composite specimens were produced by varying pulp preparation, moisture content, adhesive dosage, pressing conditions, molding procedures, and drying methods. The specimens were evaluated through preliminary qualitative observations of cohesion during demolding and handling, approximate thickness control, visible cracking, dimensional stability, surface condition, edge integrity, and ease of handling. The results identify candidate formulations for future investigation, including a reference press-assisted configuration and a promising lower-resource formulation. A reduced-scale manually assembled prototype provided preliminary evidence that the proposed geometry can be represented using the recycled-cardboard material. However, the study does not validate full-scale fabrication, CNC routing, laser cutting, structural performance, or long-term functional use of recycled-cardboard panels. The study contributes a preliminary workflow linking Fab Lab waste recovery, material experimentation, parametric design, and circular-economy-oriented prototyping.

This study explores the relationship among three-dimensional (3D) streetscape characteristics, perceived walkability, and pedestrian sidewalk choice through a comparative analysis of two opposite sidewalks along Boulevard de la République (formerly Rue Berthe), an asymmetric urban street adjacent to the 5 July 1962 Garden (D’jnane Baylek) in Biskra city center, Algeria. An exploratory comparative mixed-method approach was adopted, combining objective 3D streetscape assessment through street-level image analysis and GIS-based spatial analysis, pedestrian field observations using the gate count method to examine sidewalk choice, and an online photo-based questionnaire to assess perceived walkability. The results indicated that variations in perceived walkability and pedestrian sidewalk preferences were associated with contrasting 3D streetscape characteristics. While the vegetation-dominant sidewalk showed higher perceived walkability and overall preference, the built-dominant sidewalk with higher arcade coverage was more heavily used during the midday observation period. These findings suggest that pedestrian spatial choices and perceived walkability were associated with a combination of environmental quality, potential shading conditions, visual attractiveness, and spatial configuration within the studied context. The present study contributes to the walkability literature by combining objective and subjective assessments of 3D streetscape characteristics, perceived walkability, and pedestrian sidewalk preferences, providing exploratory evidence relevant to pedestrian-centered design in hot-arid urban contexts for future research.

This study investigates Villa Ögel, a rare surviving example of Suadiye’s modernist garden-villa era (1940s–1950s), to illuminate its architectural, historical, and socio-cultural significance amid Istanbul’s rapid urban transformation. Suadiye is a coastal residential district on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, with Villa Ögel located in Şaşkınbakkal, a smaller micro-geographical area within the broader Suadiye neighborhood, representing a specific locality within its wider urban and historical context. As neoliberal policies and post-1999 earthquake “renewal” initiatives erased nearly all traces of Suadiye’s early Republican heritage, dating from 1923 to 1950—a formative period of the Republic of Türkiye marked by state-led modernization, changing social structures, and new approaches to domestic architecture and urban development—Villa Ögel’s precarious survival offers a lens through which to examine the tensions between modernist preservation and profit-driven urbanization. The research is contextualized within Suadiye’s evolution from a 19th-century summer resort to a densely urbanized neighborhood, marked by the replacement of garden villas with high-rises. Combining archival analysis, published sources, informal oral communication, and architectural surveys, the study reconstructs the villa’s history, design, and materiality. Key findings reveal its hybrid construction—featuring Tuzla’s “S&P Tousla” bricks and reinforced concrete—and its role as a socio-cultural artifact: designed by naval engineer Kazım Ögel, the villa hosted non-Muslim summer tenants and reflected gendered social norms, evidenced by the educational disparity between Kazım and his wife, Aliye Sakibe Hanım. The study concludes that Villa Ögel embodies a transitional architectural language, bridging Ottoman-era kiosks and modernist apartments, while its deterioration illustrates limitations in the recognition and protection of modernist heritage in Istanbul. Its hierarchical layout, period-specific materials, and recollections enrich understandings of elite domesticity in mid-20th-century Istanbul. Its documentation as one of the rare surviving garden-villa examples in Şaşkınbakkal offers insights into construction practices, urban memory, and the limited recognition of modernist heritage. The research identifies legal protection, emergency stabilization, and community engagement as potential measures for addressing the building’s current condition and status, while positioning the villa as a surviving material reference within a substantially transformed urban landscape and contributing to architectural historiography on vulnerable modernist sites, urban change, and contemporary heritage debates.