SCENT OF THE TRACE
Scent of the Trace is an expose of Emre Arolat’s inner dialogues during the design process. The book contains a detailed and extensive documentation of the internal struggle to conceptually ground and position three different works of architecture; Sancaklar Mosque, Bergama Cultural Center and Yalikavak Palmarina. Emre Arolat investigates how architecture can exceed its boundaries by envisioning the interaction between the work of architecture and the community, the unique interpretation of the context and the relation to its physical surroundings.
Accompanied by sketches, drawings and photographs that give insight into the design process, the book presents the search for an architecture construct that nurtures culture, social interaction and diversity, fostering relationships where the key to a design is not to be found in its “origin” but in its “destination,” where architecture transforms the destiny of a place.
Few architects combine order and sensuality to greater effect than Emre Arolat does. Working with geometries that distinguish themselves through their simplicity and a palette that rarely consists of more than concrete, wood, glass, and stone, he is able to achieve effects that make full use of the sites his buildings occupy, while respecting the restraints that constrain his ability to be fully expressive.
Aaron Betsky, Scent of The Trace, Oro Editions, 2019
Arolat’s writing shows that works of architecture are palimpsests and as such are devoid of any single message.
Oro Editions, 2019
About The Author
Emre Arolat is the Founding Partner and Lead Designer of EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture, an international design studio with offices in New York, London, and Istanbul. Since 2004, EAA has cultivated a design approach, reconciling issues of identity that is rooted in historical and geographic traditions, yet recognizes the inescapable demands of the contemporary world.