An Interview with Selcuk Avcı Released on bi_özet gayrimenkul…
Selçuk Avcı’s opinions on ‘working spaces’ has been published in bi_özet gayrimenkul newspaper.
Working Spaces Are Being Redefined…
As opposed to the working orders where hierarchical management systems have been adopted in the past, nowadays we see complex structures and departments that are in relation to each other both in terms of management and operation.
In connection with this, the working spaces are also in a transition that keeps the individuality in the background. We have asked this process and the contemporary working spaces to Franc Neal who is JLL Turkey Project Development Services Director, Murat Can Elmalı, who is Cushman & Wakefield Project Management and Consultancy Department Manager, and Selçuk Avcı, who is the founding partner of Avcı Architects.
Selçuk Avcı: I am of the opinion that the change that we are witnessing is a tendency towards perceiving that the collective working concept and its possible permutations that are possible in types of working make the variety of types of space that the individual interacts with the working environment more important, rather than eliminating the individuality at the working spaces.
Due to the realization that the creativity would increase in the event that it is understood that work is mostly a collective action and more opportunities are given to the individuals at the working spaces towards collective interaction, the isolated working spaces are gradually needed less.
That the working type has started to get the factors into its center such as creative thinking, innovation and adaptability, by getting away from the end product based tasks that repeat itself, has carried the cooperation at the working environments to a more important point. In this regard, the common spaces have gained value. This change in the working spaces is interpreted as such.
SA: The office is a late 20th century concept; it was born through the rise of the companies and the production processes in the late stages of the industrial revolution. Thus, I am of the opinion that it is relatively understandable that these kinds of employment types evolve and refine in themselves. As the businesses become more complex and multilayered, the problems that need to be solved or the matters that need to be bettered have started to need more than a single mind. The reason for this change in our approach to working methods and thus, the reason for formation of common interactions within the working environment is the realization of the need regarding the partnership of the minds.
From now on, the world has started to integrate advanced technology to the critical sectors such as agriculture, health and logistics, and the future is going to be shaped as a result of innovative and technological breakthroughs besides the methods that have become classic. Well, are the working spaces and offices ready for the future?
SA: It is clear that we are witnessing a revolution regarding the development of our production systems and interaction with the business world. The expression of Industry 4.0 was created precisely to voice this change and in this regard, the beginning of the use of “big data” that embodies the idea of “internet of things” at the same time change our style to continue to design our world. In the past, we used to work more or less blindly, now we are at a stage of above awareness. The net outcome of the humanity’s flawless awareness is that now it is possible to bring, sort and arrange information together in a simpler way. The accessibility of data everywhere and in every way makes it possible for the work of the individual to be performed everywhere and every time. This type of change of the working space changes the designing format of the offices. As a matter of fact, alongside with the increase of the workers’ freedom regarding their becoming more independent gradually and being able to work from everywhere, the offices gradually become places where those individuals want to spend more time, just like homes…
How widespread are the ecological design and energy efficiency in present day working spaces? Why is it important for a design to be environmentally friendly from its production to its use?
SA: The sustainable thought affects us at all levels of the society. The planet that we live on, is an organism that we obey rather than we rule. Either designed with an individualistic understanding, or with a collective one, we must integrate the ability to give more than we get to the nature, into our thought process in every aspect in the working spaces as it happens in all other building typologies. In fact, generally this is a situation that can easily be attained through some simple decisions that consist of the use of the least dangerous materials and systems to the environment. Sustainability, whose outcomes are going to influence all of us, is a principle that needs to be followed beyond all of our existence types.
