Educazione e conservazione architettonica in Turchia: Cansever e Ruskin en regard

The National Architectural Seminars, established by Sedad Eldem in 1932, represented the beginning of a new era in teaching architecture in Turkey, influencing other parts of the Islamic world too: instead of looking at Western spatial models to emulate, the aim is to constitute a specific Turkish architectural vocabulary. After the Second World War, this experience gave rise to the Department for Conservation of Architectural Heritage, created by the combined efforts of several schools. The generation of architects of that time, including Turgut Cansever, encouraged new politics on conservation and rehabilitation. In the last decades, architectural teaching in Turkey turned to Western models, losing its specificity. At this moment, it becomes more urgent to wonder: is architectural education value-free or, as Spiro Kostof wrote, “to be a good architect is like being a good citizen”? Starting from this question, the essay aims to compare Cansever’s Islamic approach with Ruskin’s theoretical contribution, focusing on the issue of ethics and the moral implication of art, in relation to the notion of nature. In Cansever’s thought, the architect’s responsibility in educating the next generations and conserving the ancient city and architecture through the design process, is pointed out.