The results of the OzU Gökçeada Design Workshops were shared with a documentary movie

Istanbul Institute of Design at our Faculty of Architecture and Design has been conducting a series of workshops titled “OzU Gökçeada Design Workshops” to support the development of Gökçeada (Imroz), the largest island of Turkey, since 2014. The OzU Gökçeada Design Workshops are held in collaboration with the District Governorship and Municipality of Gökçeada. The results of the workshops have recently been shared and discussed during an event organized by Istanbul Institute of Design at OzU.

The event also featured the launch of a 45-minute documentary movie showcasing the results of the OzU Design Workshops conducted in Gökçeada in 2015.

The OzU Gökçeada Design Workshops are the product of Özyeğin University’s social benefit-oriented entrepreneurship philosophy in terms of its design, organization and results. The workshops are held “on the spot” with the active participation of the local community members. The movie, which is hence titled “Design on the Spot”, documents the OzU Gökçeada Design Workshops with a focus on the approaches of different stakeholders. The documentary movie is both in Turkish and English.

The film screening and the panel took place in ATÖLYE İstanbul (BomontiADA) featuring also Mr. Ünal Çetin, Mayor of Gökçeada.  Opening addresses were delivered by Prof. Dr. Alpay Er, Head of our Industrial Design Department, Prof. Dr. Orhan Hacıhasanoğlu, Dean of our Faculty of Architecture and Design, and Mr. Ünal Çetin, Mayor of Gökçeada. The event continued with a presentation on the “Role of Design in Urban Development” by Ms. Alayça Erözçelik, an instructor at our Faculty of Architecture and Design, and a speech on “Design on the Spot” by Assistant Prof. Metin Çavuş.
The event also featured an open forum. Speakers included the faculty members who made valuable contributions to the design workshops held in Gökçeada, including Assistant Prof. Banu Pekol, Assistant Prof. Gökhan Mura from Izmir University of Economics, Mr. Erol Köse,  mukhtar of the village “Eşelek”, and Mr. Strato Zunis, mukhtar of the village Zeytinliköy, and Mr. Ercan Mutlu and Ms. Gizem Saraçer (ITU), university students.

Istanbul Institute of Design is conducting one of the most extensive applications of the Social Design approach in Turkey. The social design approach aims to promote the use of innovative design methods to contribute to the solution of local socio-economic problems.   

OzU Gökçeada Design Workshops are designed to transform the cultural and natural resources of Gökçeada into value-added “local” products and services through the active participation of islanders with the ultimate goal of contributing “on the spot” to the island’s sustainable and environmentally friendly development process.

The second edition of workshops was organized concurrently in the Zeytinliköy, Dereköy and Eşelek villages of Gökçeada from June 22 to June 28, 2015. The workshops drew a total of 40 students not only  from Özyeğin University but also from ITU, Anadolu University, Dokuz Eylul University, Atılım University, İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir University of Economics, and Yaşar University. In addition to the members of the OzU Faculty of Architecture and Design, the faculty members of the University of Edinburgh, MHKM-Munich, and Izmir University of Economics also made valuable contributions to the workshops in Gökçeada.