Dogukan Altun + Onurcan Kusken

My Project Description: The thesis explores the evolving dynamics of communal spaces in tandem with the progression of digital connectivity. Our standpoint asserts that architecture must adapt and challenge the changing patterns of how people share spaces and connect.

The most important leverage of physical space, to its digital alternatives, is free will. The digital realm presents an illusion of democracy through unrestricted access to vast data and platforms of free speech, but it is inherently controlled and controlling in nature. In this context, focusing on the urban typology of a plaza, the argument centers around its historical shift from a place of authority to a space for the public, pushing against the nature of the digital.

The project responds to the argument by working out the integration of a convention center type into a plaza typology, located in Alicante City, Spain. This approach transforms a place that hosts public gatherings into a communal one. The same transformation is intended to influence digital spaces by enhancing its presence in the built environment.

Introducing alternative scales for gatherings, the project studies community in various mediums, essentially influencing the urban setting based on current ways and reasons we gather.