İskenderun Urban Design Studio: Strata

Beneath İskenderun's contemporary surface lies an intricate accumulation of natural and human-made systems. Each layer holds memories of geological shifts, ecological transformations and urban dreams. Every stratum tells a story of continuous dialogue between environmental forces and human aspirations, creating a rich terrain for spatial investigation and imagination. This is strata.

The studio asked students to become both archaeologist and visionary. As archaeologists, they excavated the city's spatial narratives, from geological formations like the marshland to spatial formations like the French Mandate urban grid. As visionaries, they engaged with critical contemporary challenges: seismic vulnerability and soil conditions, evolving port-city relationships, fragmented urban fabric, shifting economic patterns and changing mobility needs.

Urban strata are both archive and catalyst. In İskenderun's layers we read not just histories but possibilities of what might emerge. Through careful excavation of the city's layers, we discover what was deposited by time and what could be activated for tomorrow: this is the task of excavating urban futures.

The studio was structured in three interconnected phases. The first phase focused on conceptual exploration, where each student developed a critical reading of strata both as a theoretical concept and as a spatial phenomenon in İskenderun. The second phase engaged with excavation and documentation: systematic vertical readings of the city covering morphological evolution and built form typologies, street networks and connectivity, urban activity interfaces and economic networks, and the relationship between ecological infrastructure and public life.

In the final phase, students developed design interventions exploring multiple pathways toward their envisioned futures, ranging from protective conservation to bold addition, from subtle restoration to strategic transformation. Projects were expected to mediate between past and future through nuanced approaches rather than singular solutions.

Seventeen individual projects were developed over the semester. The studio's work was brought together in three printed booklets: one dedicated to the collective analysis of the city and two collecting the design projects, continuing the publication practice started with the Gaziantep studio.