Traditionalist utopia and evaluation of its architectural projetions

Utopia has been discussed as a concept due to its semantic varieties in many practices and is still being discussed to this day. While it is seen as an expression of community-based totalitarian thought bases at times, on the other side it can be read as a tool that the Neo-Liberal world uses to infiltrate the worlds of thought. Both readings contain negativity towards the concept. Utopia and utopian thought became a current issue as of the start of new millenium due to anti-utopian discourses and the thesis claiming 'utopia is dead' which became a prominent view as a result of negative readings. While the discussions continue on varying practices and levels, leading works on the topic support an anti-anti-utopian thought system against anti-utopian discourses and emphasize that research must be done on utopia as a tradition. Views regarding utopia as a tradition and therefore affirmations of utopia emphasize the necessity of leaning on a new and different perspective, leaving traditional reading in many practices. It is aimed to disclose intellectual processes that point to intention instead of thoughts that describe the concept of utopia with imaginary, systematic, fictional approaches and thereby reduce it to representation. It can be argued that the utopia concept, which emerged in a controversial position in the practice of architecture, is still discussed in the light of formal centers of controversy, and thus an anti-utopian discourse. The discussion of utopia in architectural writing still continues to be read through osalite utopias, totalitarian utopias, technological utopias and futuristic utopias. This thesis aims to explore the possibility of constituting a range to 'utopia in architecture" that can be structured with utopia readings as a tradition that has been studied in different fields within the framework of the thought of utopia that has been reaffirmed through this point; if such range can be constituted, adding architecture as an opponent to the present and an anti-anti-utopian discourse to the discussion by questioning the belief that architecture should play the role of a tool of the leading government by nature and anti-utopian architecture discourses by creating a new field of critical review of utopian architecture. Towards such an aim, the study first examined utopian studies as a tradition raised through anti-anti-utopian writings. It is tried to understand and convey the concept traditionally taken from the traces of these readings. The Utopia concept, which traditionally treats the work of Thomas More, the first user of the utopia, a 'faux' word, predates allegorical reading. This approach has revealed its ties with Kumar's Utopianism discourse in the process of research and with that, showed specific names have publications in a similar frame with different concepts in different timelines although not traditionally under the concept of utopia(nism). At this point in the second part of the first chapter, the thought of utopianism was attempted to be systematized in order to be introduced and understood by its followers and included in architectural discussions. The names whose opinions are mentioned in such a search are the ones who have been those who approached the concept in a positive sense and conducted research on behalf of ensuring the intellectual continuity. The opinions of Benjamin and Bloch, which are frequently referred to in various fields by many people, are also included in this section. This chapter, which has been captured by such a limitation, has revealed a strong connection between the idea of utopianism and the concept of reality. Thus, the approach towards the concept has been selected as the first point of interrogation within Architectural research and the thesis on the tradition of affirmed Utopianism. The second chapter of the thesis contains an examination of thoughts on utopianism that have taken their place outside of the field of architecture. It is revealed that a study based on the strong connection between utopianism and the concept of "reality" has a centrical significance as the examination conveys the topic to architecture and/or any other field. The aim of the third chapter is to examine the possible connections between the concept of utopia as a tradition and the topic of "utopia in architecture" that is discussed in the field of architecture. Thus it is intended to reveal the covert range in order to capture the glimpse of utopianism in architecture which is the main goal of the thesis. The discourse of "Utopianism in Architecture" is spread on a wide range that extends from urban utopia to gigantic structures. In order to stay on the main axis, the chapter is restricted to classifications of the names that are mentioned frequently in many in-field studies on the topic and introduction of the reflections of these classifications in the practice of architecture. Other possible classifications are excluded in order to maintain the main idea. Therefore the discourse of "Utopia in Architecture" in such framework has made the thought of utopianism and its controversies apparent. The classification of structural utopias and utopian spaces brought about by the classification revealed the concepts of ideology and avant-garde as sub-concepts which should be followed as a trace of tradition in the field of architecture by examining the tradition of utopianism. These two issues, which are included as subdivisions, are concepts that are frequently encountered while examining the foundations of anti-utopian theses. The reasons for inclusion as separate subdivisions within the scope; to recognize the strength of the bonds they have established with utopian thought during the reading and to see that the discussions that will constitute a new range in utopia discussions in architecture are still underway in the concepts. Discussions on micro-utopia are included in the fourth chapter, which were added in the thesis while doing research for the fifth chapter, are included in the thesis because they make visible a non-visible distinction during the examinations of utopianism and sociality which have not yet taken place in the traditional utopian discussions. The architectural stance that played a major role in examining utopianism in the field of architecture revealed by the third chapter was supported by the fourth chapter. Moreover, how the space and time can play an effective mediating role in the tradition were discussed with concrete examples in the fourth chapter. As the thought of utopia as a tradition, which has been handled within the scope of the thesis, was started to be discussed in the field of architecture, it showed that it is necessary to start discussing architectural posture first. With this deduction, the fifth chapter examines architectural discourses, aiming to reveal the architects who are entitled to tradition. For the analysis of discourse, manifestos which are thought to express architects' ideas clearly, are primarily taken into account. Because in the modern architectural manifestos, writings that can be added to the framework of utopianism could not have been found, in order to find architectural views following the tradition, records such as magazines, videos etc. have been examined. As a result of the examinations on discourses; a list of eight architects; Henry Van De Velde, Bruno Taut, Frederick Kiesler, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Ion Sørvin, Stephane Malka, Mark Foster Gage ve Michael Sorkin, is presented. In addition to the architects, writer Paul Scheerbart's name was also added to the list, who has shaped his works around architects, architecture and introduced a utopian look through architecture. This list can be defined as an essay list created with readings done on limited time. As readings on the subject are expanded, new names and different opinions will be added. Finally in the sixth chapter, thoughts concluding that discussion of utopia as a tradition in the field of architecture has vital significance, have been shared and brought up for debate in the light of all the concepts and examinations that take place in the study. Besides that, in the same chapter; based on the finding that the thesis being studied is not a much discussed subject in the field of architecture, suggestions have been developed for new examinations that can pursue the case of utopianism in the future by sharing ideas that are perceived and related to the subject during researches.