Death Quest
1. Field and Terrain
1.1 Introduction
The Obruk Region, located in Konya-Karaman in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey, is characterized by its geological features, especially karst formations and sinkholes resulting from underground water activities. Sinkholes typically form due to the lowering of the groundwater level. In the Konya-Karaman region, the primary cause is the interaction of underground water with Neogene limestone and marl layers. Water dissolves the limestone, creating large cavities, which collapse to form sinkholes. The formation of sinkholes poses significant threats to agricultural lands and residential areas. Overuse of groundwater and irrigation activities accelerate sinkhole formation, leading to the loss of arable land and damage to settlements. Conversely, the touristic potential of the sinkholes can contribute to the region's economic development. The Konya-Karaman Obruk Region is a geologically and hydrogeologically significant area. Understanding the formation mechanisms and controlling these processes are crucial for the region's sustainability. Regulating groundwater usage and monitoring sinkholes are essential to minimizing environmental and socioeconomic impacts.
1.2 Groundwater Usage
The Konya-Karaman region is one of Turkey's most important agricultural areas, known for its extensive farmlands and intensive groundwater usage. However, the over-exploitation of groundwater resources poses significant threats to the sustainability and ecological balance of the region. Agricultural activities in the Konya-Karaman region heavily rely on groundwater. The water used for irrigation significantly depletes the region's water reserves. Over-irrigation and uncontrolled water use lead to a decrease in groundwater levels and an increase in sinkhole formations. The decline in groundwater levels poses a major threat to the sustainability of water resources in the region. This situation reduces agricultural productivity and disrupts the balance of ecosystems. Additionally, the decrease in groundwater levels increases the risk of surface subsidence and sinkhole formation. These sinkholes pose serious dangers to farmland and residential areas.
1.3 The Future
Controlling groundwater usage is crucial for the region's sustainability. Developing water management policies, adopting water-saving agricultural techniques, and raising public awareness are essential. Moreover, utilizing renewable water sources and implementing water recycling projects will contribute to the long-term preservation of water resources. Groundwater usage in the Konya-Karaman region is a critical issue for the future of the area. Reviewing current water management policies and implementing sustainable water use strategies are essential for maintaining the agricultural and ecological balance of the region. There are scenarios that will occur if water use continues like this:
- Scenario 1- Decline in Agricultural Production: A continuous drop in groundwater levels will directly affect agricultural production. Water scarcity will prevent plants from meeting their water needs, reducing agricultural productivity. This could lead to decreased food production and significant losses in the local economy.
- Scenario 2- Ecosystem Degradation: A decrease in groundwater levels will negatively impact the region's ecosystems. Wetlands and groundwater-dependent ecosystems will suffer from water shortages, leading to reduced biodiversity and the potential extinction of some species.
- Scenario 3- Increase in Sinkhole Formation: The drop in groundwater levels will accelerate sinkhole formation. This poses significant risks to both agricultural lands and residential areas. Sinkholes can result in the loss of farmland, damage to infrastructure, and potential fatalities.
- Scenario 4- Socioeconomic Problems: The reduction in water resources will cause not only agricultural and ecological damage but also socioeconomic issues. As access to water decreases, social tensions and migration movements due to water scarcity may increase. Losses in the local economy will lead to higher unemployment and a decline in the quality of life.
2. Collapsing- Formation- Collapsing- Formation
2.1 Dripping Model
construction technique:
- I parameterized a dripping ceiling displacement example for the model:
- Create a thin slit in the middle of a flat plate through the plate,
- Place wire skeleton system at regular intervals,
- The implanted skeletal system grows from the plate slit to infinity,
- Wire skeletal system and plate form a new skeletal system,
- The new skeletal system is wrapped in layers of bandage,
- The wrapped bandage is fixed with pins at different points,
- Plaster is prepared for the created system and poured in 3 stages,
- After the first stage dries, the second stage is cast, and after it dries, the third stage is cast.
- An attempt is made to transfer the drip system to the model with parameters
- After the plaster dries, the model is burned to explore and observe the gaps in the created model,
- Different textures and spaces formed by different materials burning differently are observed.
2.2 Texture Creating
Revealing textures, traces, gaps, peaks and valleys by passing the texture model through various filters
2.3 2D Texture
A new 2D texture pattern was created by drawing the patterns resulting from the filtering
2.4 3D Output
- The scars formed on the joined surfaces after tears rise upward (on the z axis) due to tension,
- the regions with collapsing circles decrease downwards (on the negative z axis),
- The road and empty surface parts remain constant.
2.5 Modeling Output
3. Sinkholes/ obruk(s)
3.1 Nothingness
The Obruk region offers an experience of vast nothingness, composed of arid fields stretching as far as the eye can see, except for a few small settlements. Obruklar are massive voids that are invisible from a distance but reveal themselves as one approaches the edge of the sinkhole. (/void: it means something that once occupied that space, but no longer exists in the current time frame). These colossal voids are spaces that prompt one to question or force a person searching for something in the void to think. The old ones have already defined their place and created their void, while the new ones can only be speculated on how much they will engulf and what voids they will create.
3.2 Giganticity and Impression
As one approaches the sinkholes, they think about how immense they are based on photographs, but cannot comprehend this vastness upon seeing it for the first time. The encountered reality is on a scale different from anything they know. They look around, seeking a reference to understand, but even with what they find, they cannot grasp it. Distances of hundreds of meters, even kilometers, come into play. They try to enter it, to explore the unknown, search for paths, and slowly start observing, but this time from the inside. As they wander, they question this void, contemplating their own smallness or even nonexistence within the vastness. Inside, they examine things smaller than themselves, yet none of their senses are sufficient to perceive or reach the enormity.
3.3 Path of Thought
Walking towards the horizon amidst vast voids, embarking on a journey of discovery on nonexistent paths, leads not only to observations and sensations but also to emotions and thoughts. Meyil Lake, which appears to be dug in three layers, stands out with its water and greenery. The first encounter with this place reveals a contrast to the region’s arid and yellow landscape; it is green, moist, and more colorful. The second sinkhole, appearing to be formed by rocks, features steep, rocky descents that meet the ground, extending into infinity and diminishing their impact sharply. The scale becomes even more elusive with eight miniature sinkholes along the path. Inside, there is a formation that appears as if it descended from the sky but, upon closer inspection, is composed of rocks fallen from the sinkhole's rim. The small but steep sinkhole, wedged in between, is perceived as measurable and becomes a subject of experimentation. Continuing from the top of the steep sinkhole, it turns conical and becomes mysterious, as it is the first place where non-human life is seen. A fox scurrying towards the summit drives one to search for other creatures. This curiosity is quelled upon encountering a shepherd and his goat herd. The journey continues as the goats graze freely within the sinkhole. Then one faces the most enormous, steep, and treacherous void. The layers seen on the steep slopes seem to have formed to carry the marks of time, separating distinctly from one another. Birds flying within the sinkhole, as if out of a movie, create the illusion of a different world. Enclosed by the sinkhole’s edges, with steep walls marked by time, large and small caves at the center of this void lead the way, and at the bottom, there is a world with a now-absent water layer.
*The wholeness in which different emotions, new discoveries and obresvations, admiration and fear, smallness and greatness are discontinued, caused by encounters with huge sinkholes while walking towards the endless horizon in the middle of nowhere.
4. Idea of Death
4.1 First Encounter
Upon reaching the edge of the sinkhole, the first sensations are fear and excitement. It is the thrill of gazing into the immense void for the first time and the fear of feeling so small within its vastness. This is followed by thoughts of falling, injury, entrapment, and death. An indescribable fear arises in the face of things that cannot be explained. Subsequently, a sense of withdrawal, unease, and caution takes over. One thinks about the possibility of being caught in these timeless collapses and the voids that could form at any moment.
4.2 Questioning
With these thoughts, a person begins to question. "What if I fall by mistake? What if someone else falls? What if someone has already fallen and is lost?" Fear triggers these questions. Then, one begins to question death. "What happens if I die?" This leads to many different thoughts. The aftermath varies between religions, within each religion, among beliefs, in philosophical inquiries, and personal reflections. For some, there is eternal happiness and reward; for others, reincarnation as a different person; for some, an absolute end; for others, uncertainty; and for some, eternity. At the moment of wondering "what happens if I die," a person reexamines the thoughts they firmly believed in and lived by. Their mind embarks on a journey from regrets to missed opportunities, drifting toward what they couldn't achieve. The past, present, and future swirl in their mind, prompting deep introspection.
4.3 Architecture and Death
What is the color of death? Black, brown, ash gray... These are colors associated with gloom and nature for humans. The color of death is the color of colorlessness. A deceased person is treated as if they no longer exist, and for the living, this is true. However, the dead do not truly die; they have become immortal and are now outside of time. It is the blending of presence and absence, light and darkness. In architecture, as the presence of the object in front increases, the shadow decreases; as it decreases, the presence with light increases in the person. In architecture, light-dark and shadow-brightness are used, bringing life and death face to face. However, in the relationship between death and life in architecture, we always find ourselves on the side of life, always opposing death.
4.4 Time and Death on Stage
Bresson and Bergman, who seek to reevaluate the concepts of time and death in cinema, begin with the idea that because cinema is tied to technology, it cannot capture flowing time but can connect with it, thus becoming permanent. They argue that death can be reflected through the rhythm of light and shadow within a film. Symbolically, death should have direction, yet it is represented devoid of sanctity, interchangeability, and communication. Death, once commemorated and experienced through grand monumental structures, ceremonies, and rituals, has transformed into something ordinary and simple. The myths of old (vision and perception/individual and mental form) have been replaced by ideas (illustrations like films), transitioning from perception to visuality. Nietzsche's idea that "God is dead, and we have killed him" has led to a questioning of death and temporality.
5. Death Palace
5.1 Manifesto
A palace structure where people come to question death, trying to determine if they truly want to die or if it's an idea in their mind to escape from other things. This place allows individuals to question themselves through light and darkness, illumination and shadow, creating a space where they can be isolated both physically and mentally while on a journey of introspection. Each person gets lost among the choices, eventually finding themselves alone with their thoughts, which become louder. The journey towards their true desires is filled with unknowns, much like a palace. Will they choose death or life? Will they choose to die or live with this thought for years? What are their true desires? This palace structure facilitates a journey that may be very long or very short, leading them to answers to these questions.
5.2 Transition to Spatiality (Light-Darkness)
Continuous lines are defined from the created 2D texture. A new drawing is made using these vectors. This is an experiment in creating space by forming light-dark areas with gradients along the defined boundaries.
The light areas represent spatial components, while the dark parts represent regions of circulation or solid areas. The goal of this transition from a 2D texture to a 3D spatial experiment is to explore how light and shadow interact, to search for potential relationships between them, and to define fullness and emptiness. This experiment aims to identify potential spatial forms and relationships that can emerge from the texture.
5.3 Transition to Spatiality (Atmosphere)
This experiment explores spatial formations derived from a three-dimensional model created from texture, answered with atmospheric collages. The light beams entering from above create light-dark relationships that alter spatial perception, offering various paths within the potential space. The rising and falling of the floor guides us through the space, while changing spatial heights differentiates the experience. The potential of dead-end paths that lead nowhere, and the creation of excessive heights or openings to mimic the feeling experienced in sinkholes, are some of the results obtained.
New patterns are discovered in the space, such as the texture of surfaces, how and in what amount light enters, from what distance it reaches inside, and how the differentiated floor creates spatial exploration.
6. The Death Palace
6.1 Entrance
People who want to question the idea of death come to this palace and enter through this main entrance. At the entrance, they are greeted by the palace official, the "chief guardian." The chief guardian welcomes the visitors and asks questions to test if they are ready for this journey.
The entrance leads to the main area through a long corridor. This space is well-lit, has an area where the guardian stands, and opens to the staircase that begins the journey.
6.2 First Fork in the Road
6.3 Tunnel 1
6.4 Tunnel 2
6.5 Tunnel 3
6.6 Entrance Stairs
The journey begins by taking these stairs from the entrance and reaching the first fork in the road. These stairs lead from the bright entrance area to the completely dark first fork in the road area. Openings in the shell above the stairs allow light to enter at intervals, gradually fading as one moves to the next space.
6.7 Internal Circulation Staircase 1
6.8 Internal Circulation Staircase 2
6.9 Servant Rooms
These are rooms designed like those in the normal world where the palace servant reside. Travelers do not have access to these rooms. Supplies from outside are received here, and waste to be removed from inside is transferred out through these rooms.
6.10 Exit
Render View
Exploded Axonometric
A-A Section of Palace (scale 1/100)
(-2) Level Plan (scale 1/100)
Perspektive Axonometric
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