SPACE June 2025 (No. 691)
Minicity Theme Park (2004) ©Cemal Emden
Founded on Critical Questions: EAA
Interview Emre Arolat principal, EAA × Lee Sowoon
EAA, one of the largest architectural offices in Türkiye, is widely recognised for its international sensibility and refined formal language, but its achievements do not stem from the high level of completion in terms of their forms. Instead, EAA’s designs are driven by scepticism for given, repetitive typologies, and by a critical questioning that is constantly updated depending on the situation behind each different project. For EAA, architecture is a realm of sensibility and determination that cannot be formalised, which is sometimes made more evident when faced with
troubling conditions in the real world. In the interview with EAA’s principal Emre Arolat, SPACE explore how questions that precede form shape the contours of architecture, through two projects with different contexts and solutions: Sancaklar Mosque (2013) and the Museum Hotel Antakya (2019).
A Sense of Balance
Lee Sowoon (Lee): You visited Seoul for the first time last May on the occasion of the SNU-Mokcheon Lectures. What were your impressions of the city? Was there anything in the built environment that particularly stood out to you?
Emre Arolat (Arolat): Arriving in the evening, we reached our hotel, the Four Seasons, after sunset. What struck me initially was how parts of Seoul resembled the downtown districts of American cities; broad streets, illuminated façades, glass towers. From my 30th floor hotel room the next morning, the daytime city revealed itself at full scale: multi-lane roads, vast intersections, and the bustling choreography of pedestrians. The sun reflected off the blue and green-tinted glass façades of the high-rises, casting a futuristic glow. It felt strikingly familiar. Were it not for the Hangul signage, this vista could have easily passed for downtown Houston or ...
