How can architecture tell the story of a city? At the Manisa Liberation Museum, I joined the museum’s curator, Heval Zeliha Yüksel, and its architect, Ömer Selçuk Baz, to discuss this question. It meant a great deal to me to explore the idea of space as narrative, which I discuss in Yalın Şeyler, inside the museum itself and with the people who had shaped both the building and its exhibition.
We spoke about the building’s symbolic language, the relationship between architectural decisions and exhibition design, and how a story becomes a spatial experience. Hearing Heval’s curatorial perspective alongside Selçuk’s architectural approach helped us understand how the decisions behind the museum complemented one another. I also shared how I had read the building in the book, and how I had approached the place of narrative in architecture.
The gathering was part of the Yalın Şeyler Manisa programme, which brought architects and journalists together on 23–24 October. Our visit began at Saray Tuğla’s production facilities in Germencik. Seeing how the museum’s building material was made gave us a concrete point of reference for our conversations inside the building.
At the Manisa Liberation Museum, we attended the ceremony to install its National Architecture Award plaque. The gathering was also accompanied by the Yalın Şeyler exhibition curated by Heval. On the second day, we toured the museum with Heval and Selçuk, looking closely at its architectural details and exhibition design.
We then continued to the Kula-Salihli UNESCO Global Geopark, the Temple of Artemis and the ancient city of Sardis. This gave us the opportunity to consider the story told by the museum alongside the surrounding geography and layers of history. Sharing that experience of the context I had tried to convey in words fed into our conversations throughout the visit.
Coordinated by Sibel Keyvan, the programme was organised in collaboration with Manisa Metropolitan Municipality, sponsored by Fibrobeton and Saray Tuğla, and supported by Ermiş İnşaat and Jotun.