THE WHITE HOUSE IN THE VOID
Saray/Tekirdağ︎ 1997 ︎Construction Area: 620 m2 ︎Site: 13.000 m2 ︎ Housing ︎Boğaçhan Dündaralp, Ebru Tabak, Nevzat Sayın
We had reached a narrow path between oak trees where sunlight struggled to penetrate, leading to a bright space surrounded by a dense oak forest. There was nothing on the slightly rising, compacted earth surface extending northward. The tense, stark relationship between the emptiness and the dense fullness of the forest intensified with the light bursting into the void, almost getting lost within the forest. As we entered the void, the gap through which we entered disappeared, and the sense of solitude increased. In the dry soil, small white stones, as numerous as the soil, spread and multiplied the whiteness under the intense light. The forest swallowed all sounds, the light erased all images.
While we were thinking that we should settle on the north side to cope with the harsh north wind and close off completely, to see the whole space descending towards the south, we realised that we were also looking for the peace of leaning against a ‘solid’ wall and looking in front of us from a wide angle instead of looking to all four sides.
The harsh relationship between the structure and the site; a repetition of the tension between the forest and the terrain. The whiteness of the structure, now a memory of the whiteness of the soil that is now covered with grass. Silence; it continues with tranquility.