Architect Sedad Hakkı Eldem Date 1964 Pakistan Embassy ankara, turkey Text Tristan Rutherford Images Rengim Mutevellioglu 044 045
Sedad Hakkı Eldem, a pioneer of Turkish modern architecture, designed the rational and modern Embassy of Pakistan in Ankara over a period of 10 years 046 047
Mrs Aisha Farooqui, Chargée d Affaires of Pakistan s Embassy in Ankara, is diplomacy personified. When asked if other ambassadors are jealous of her mammoth compound, which crowns the skyline of Turkey s diplomatic capital, her response is typically tactful. The embassy is located in a very elegant and important neighbourhood, she explains. We are privileged to be in close proximity to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the Prime Minister s house and the Foreign Minister s house. Some neighbourhood, but then Pakistan s diplomatic mission is some embassy. That s because it was designed in 1964 by Sedad Hakkı Eldem Turkey s answer to Le Corbusier. The godfather of Turkish modernism, Eldem has inspired generations of Turkish architects with his contemporary Ottoman interiors and pinpoint Islamic geometry. Fifty years after its foundation was laid, the Ankara mission s mosque-like monumental arch still continues to inspire the Pakistani diplomats and visitors ushered through it. The ostentatious entranceway leads into the chancery building, the business end of any embassy, which was built in 1974. It is large and spacious, with excellent lighting and broad spaces for gatherings, says Farooqui. High ceilings, hefty walls and hardwood panels speak of hushed power, so much so that even Pakistan s Chargée d Affaires can t contain her glee. We still receive students from the architecture departments of Turkish universities who want to study Mr Eldem s skills, she says. Eldem designed the main embassy building as a serious place of work. It s grey, business-like, efficient and futuristic. The chancery is designed for congenial access among various offices, says Farooqui, as the tour continues through reception halls, endless meeting rooms and studies. 01 During the final period of Mr Eldem s architecture, he was known for his wide canopies, well-proportioned windows and cantilevers, she explains. Domed concrete arches and stainless steel glassed-in balconies both overlook the complex s gardens and shield its staff from Ankara s searing summers and winter snow. 048 049
It was easy for Eldem to oversee the embassy of a spirited then-new country like Pakistan. The Turkish architect was born in Istanbul in 1908 to a diplomatic family. His peripatetic childhood was spent between diplomatic missions in France, Switzerland and Germany before he returned home to study architecture at Istanbul s Fine Arts Academy in 1924, the first year of the newly proclaimed Turkish Republic. On further overseas internships he explored the modernist materials that were to later become his hallmarks. An early example of his marriage of eastern tradition with modernism can be seen in his design for a contemporary mosque built out of reinforced concrete in 1929. Back in the Ankara embassy, the striking similarities of Turkey and Pakistan are evident in the two nations flags. The crescent motifs one backed in Ottoman red, the other Islamic green tell of striking parallels between the two countries. I have had a feeling of familiarity in Turkey, and not just in the Embassy, comments Farooqui. Separated only by Iran, the trade and cultural links between the two nations are manifold. A portrait of Pakistan s founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, looks out over the embassy s gardens. A nearby street, Cinnah Caddesi, is named in honour of the Pakistani independence leader. The favour is returned in Islamabad, where the Turkish Republic s revered first President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, has his own eponymous avenue. During the final period of Mr Eldem s architecture, he was known for his wide canopies, well-proportioned windows and cantilevers Aisha Farooqui Chargée d Affaires Diplomats in Ankara tell of how Atatürk gifted plum plots to the British and French embassies, as they were the first nations to set up shop in his new capital in the 1920s. An affinity with their new Muslim neighbour may have helped Pakistan s embassy gain its enviable location, decades later. Stepping outside of the compound s hush, Ankara s wind-in-yourears winter enfolds. Isolated in central Anatolia, for many European diplomats Ankara is considered a hardship posting like Kabul or Ashgabat, not a sunny sojourn like Beirut or Rabat. But colour can be found in the embassy s garage in the guise of a garishly decorated Volkswagen Beetle. In Pakistan, trucks, buses and rickshaws are adorned with flowers, swirls and holy passages from 050 051
Karachi to Kashmir. To raise the profile of Turkish-Pakistani friendship, the embassy s Volkswagen was painted in public at a local shopping mall, and then zoomed around by Turkey s top female rally driver Burcu Çetinkaya. Indeed, a quick glance at the embassy s Facebook, YouTube and Blogger pages show Pakistan takes 21st century measures seldom seen in the Middle East in deepening cultural ties. More timeless, however, are the embassy s leafy grounds, which terrace uphill to the residence, where the ambassador lives. They are a favourite of Farooqui s, too, somewhere she can walk quietly during lunch breaks and watch the trees in bloom. Eldem designed several diplomatic buildings around Ankara, including the Dutch Embassy and part of the Indian mission, but few are as impressively sited as Pakistan s. The vast living space of the residence, also completed in 1974, is bright, white and structurally light a contrast to the contemporary chancery building below it. Farooqui offers an uncharacteristically gratified verdict, saying It would not be an exaggeration if I said that the embassy was a signature style of its time in Ankara. Who needs diplomacy when you have the best address in town? The key to the embassy s all-encompassing modernism is Eldem s midlife travels. As the leading light of Turkish architecture, he was sent to represent the state at every international show. He presided over Turkey s pavilions at the Budapest International Fair in 1931 and the 1939 New York World s Fair, among others. His architectural gift was to absorb every international ideal before reimagining a Turkish equivalent. Crowning recognition came in the form of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1986, two years before his passing. Back in Istanbul, architects offer their opinions on the city s king of contemporary design. Eren Tekin, who impressed recent Istanbul Biennial visitors with his Twtrate social media installation, comments on Eldem s designs for the Pakistani Embassy in Ankara. Sedad Hakkı Eldem is our godfather of modernism. His imported ideas made Turkish architecture more structurally sound, not less. Anyone can design an embassy, but not everyone can remember their roots. 02 052 053
An overhead site plan details the complex s triangular layout and a floor plan shows the ambassador s double-height residence to have a swimming pool, five bedrooms and a state dining room 054 055
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«references 01 Ivy creeps up the glass-panelled entrance atrium of the chancery near Ankara s Segmenler Parkı 02 An archival article announcing the completion of the embassy s construction from an October 1974 edition of Pakistan Postasi a newsletter of Pakistan- Turkey relations 03 Architect Sedad Hakkı Eldem poured concrete into flutes and waves to form the embassy s modernist exterior 04 A Volkswagen Beetle lurks in an alley, painted in the same colourful style as many vehicles found in Pakistan 05 Inside the chancery, the flag of Pakistan stands next to a portrait of the nation s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah 06 Chandeliers and carpets from Pakistan decorate one of the function rooms 07 Winter in Ankara cloaks the grounds and gardens of the Pakistan compound in a layer of snow 07 072 073