CONTRIBUTION OF TURKISH ARCHITECTS TO THE NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE OF PAKISTAN: VEDAT DALOKAY

In our age of globalization, architecture is in varying degrees regionally or internationally oriented. To achieve fine architecture, good architects, demanding clients, tasteful users are needed, as well as keen critics. Autobiographies of many globally renowned architects reveal that they travel far and wide to acquire and transfer ideas from other countries. In general, architects use their mental faculties to their best, to shape their buildings for the world to see, to use, and to pronounce judgment upon. But the irony is that the architect's special gift of turning building materials into architectural spaces has almost never been adequately put into words, particularly to the satisfaction of the architect. This is mainly true for nonwestern architects who have handsomely contributed to the world of architecture. In many cases, their life histories and works have never received proper attention from architectural historians. For contemporary generations of architects particularly in a developing country like Pakistan, western architects become role models; influencing their design decisions mostly noncompatible within the local context. Turkey, a land where East and West meet, produced architects who created magnificent architecture during different historical periods, such as Seljuk, Ottoman and different phases of the Republican period. The buildings created by them since the eleventh century have a distinguished place in the heritage of world architecture. However, except for Sinan who is known as the most prominent Ottoman architect, many of the other architects have not been brought into the world limelight. After 1960s, the contribution of Republican Turkish architects was not limited only to the local level but spread abroad as well. Many distinctive buildings in the categories of religious complexes, diplomatic enclaves, exhibition pavilions and cultural centres were designed and constructed by them. One of the renowned Turkish architects, Vedat Dalokay, has greatly contributed in shaping the national architecture of Pakistan by designing two major projects in Lahore and Islamabad. Even though a few articles have been written about him in Turkish, architects in Pakistan cannot benefit from this material as they are alien to the language. Hence, little is known about the architect and his design intentions in Pakistan, while what he has designed are experienced as objects: his buildings there are enjoyed as items mainly valued in terms of external form, materials, scale, grandeur, cost, etc. It is the author's belief that architects, on the whole, do their work, not because of a quest for money but for an inner satisfaction that comes from creative, well-thought out, well- crafted form. The purpose of this study is to explore Dalokay's life history, his design philosophy and to unravel the broad context for producing these buildings. This paper would act as a breakthrough in creating awareness about him and giving more credit to the his vision in Pakistan. Moreover, it might prove to be a humble contribution to strenghten ties between Turkey and Pakistan in terms of architects and the architecture. Semi-structured interviews with professionals and family members, English translations of articles in Turkish, the Chamber of Architects in Ankara, e-mail contacts with architects in Pakistan and internet searches provided major material in the compilation of this research work.