Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around Here

Far from alien to our daily lives, stupidity seems evident to most people. However, discerning what is stupid may not be as easy as it looks, especially when talking about architecture. To specify what architectural stupidity is, we must acknowledge that not all failures of architecture are ‘errors...

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Main Authors: Sinan Cem Kızıl, Bengisu Derebaşı
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2025-06-01
Series:Footprint
Online Access:https://abe.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/7493
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author Sinan Cem Kızıl
Bengisu Derebaşı
author_facet Sinan Cem Kızıl
Bengisu Derebaşı
author_sort Sinan Cem Kızıl
collection DOAJ
description Far from alien to our daily lives, stupidity seems evident to most people. However, discerning what is stupid may not be as easy as it looks, especially when talking about architecture. To specify what architectural stupidity is, we must acknowledge that not all failures of architecture are ‘errors’, some are worse. This article discusses the already architecturally situated concept of error and distinguishes it from stupidity in terms of ‘technicities’ that fail. The Simondonian concept of technicity helps to locate error and stupidity according to their mutative potentials. We argue that the difference between the two is materialised in a failed theme park in Ankara. Planned as one of the municipality’s signature projects of the 2010s, Ankapark damages the tangible and intangible relationships within the land it sits on, Atatürk Forest Farm. This park, with its seemingly erroneous processes of engagement with the built environment and human and non-human inhabitants, bypasses any rationale and transforms a productive urban territory into an intransitive field for knowledge systems, institutions and disciplines. The cancerous mutation it feeds does not inform any knowledge system to the point that ‘it can no longer stand itself’, providing only ‘stupidity in stupidity’.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1875-1504
1875-1490
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher TU Delft OPEN Publishing
record_format Article
series Footprint
spelling doaj-art-d2fdc544443a419c9e27c7a8aebf05d72025-08-20T03:30:52ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingFootprint1875-15041875-14902025-06-0119110.59490/footprint.19.1.7493Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around HereSinan Cem Kızıl0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4126-8567Bengisu Derebaşı1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7296-8104Middle East Technical UniversityMiddle East Technical University Far from alien to our daily lives, stupidity seems evident to most people. However, discerning what is stupid may not be as easy as it looks, especially when talking about architecture. To specify what architectural stupidity is, we must acknowledge that not all failures of architecture are ‘errors’, some are worse. This article discusses the already architecturally situated concept of error and distinguishes it from stupidity in terms of ‘technicities’ that fail. The Simondonian concept of technicity helps to locate error and stupidity according to their mutative potentials. We argue that the difference between the two is materialised in a failed theme park in Ankara. Planned as one of the municipality’s signature projects of the 2010s, Ankapark damages the tangible and intangible relationships within the land it sits on, Atatürk Forest Farm. This park, with its seemingly erroneous processes of engagement with the built environment and human and non-human inhabitants, bypasses any rationale and transforms a productive urban territory into an intransitive field for knowledge systems, institutions and disciplines. The cancerous mutation it feeds does not inform any knowledge system to the point that ‘it can no longer stand itself’, providing only ‘stupidity in stupidity’. https://abe.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/7493
spellingShingle Sinan Cem Kızıl
Bengisu Derebaşı
Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around Here
Footprint
title Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around Here
title_full Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around Here
title_fullStr Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around Here
title_full_unstemmed Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around Here
title_short Everyone Knows Who is Stupid Around Here
title_sort everyone knows who is stupid around here
url https://abe.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/7493
work_keys_str_mv AT sinancemkızıl everyoneknowswhoisstupidaroundhere
AT bengisuderebası everyoneknowswhoisstupidaroundhere