Notes for Ahmet

Dear Ahmet:

I am sorry for responding so late. I know you were eager to hear some response from us. You did in fact hear my lengthy comments at the end of the previous week.

I have watched your film again and find it really rich and beautiful including the main word you chose.....

Abyss

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abyss may mean:
Sciences and philosophy
· Abyssal zone, the deepest extent of the sea.
· Abyssal plain, a flat area on the ocean floor.
· Abyss (religion), is a bottomless depth.
· Abyss (Thelema), a spiritual principle within the system of Thelema.
Literature
· The Abyss (novel), historical novel by Marguerite Yourcenar,
alternatively know as Zeno of Bruges.
· The Abyss, horror novel (1989) by U.S. writer Steve Vance.
· The People of the Abyss by Jack London
· The Abyss, the deepest parts of the Timeless Halls in J. R. R. Tolkien's
legendarium



I wander why you feel the need to jump so far away from the topic of your film that of Abyss. From it you can choose to move to spiritual and religious issues as found in Wikipedia see the Abyss (religion), is a bottomless depth., Abyss (Thelema), a spiritual principle within the system of Thelema.,.

Although there are no hard rules in this game of metaphoric constructions, tighter connections are desired. ambiguity and complexity are part of it, but confusion and anything goes attitutde do not help.

I would not leave the forest if I where you. Going to Hollywood , is cool and funny,
and a stage set is siteless.....At least you are in Holly- woods…....a forest of of a kind…...the simulated happiness (holly or not) of gambling on the American dream..is that what you intended to say. I don’t quite get the connection to the Berlin wall and/or to you spiritual interest in Islam, which I admire, but by itself does not seem to me to be an architectural question for a degree project (as I said last week).

I hope this triggers a focused and productive discussion that would lead you, very soon, to a concrete program and site selection. All of this does not mean that you could not capture the spatial, visual, tactile, audio qualities of a mosque as you develop a program, but I did not see you yet, deal with those sensorial attributes as you think about your degree project. Politics and symbolism seemed to dominate your approach. Again, just to make sure that I am not missunderstood: I am not saying that those aspects of architecture are not important or real, but they are not the focus of our studio’s pedagogical startegy.