Welcome to Ogeebolu

24 hotels and 15,000 kilometers of “magic” bus traveling... That was how much, and maybe, all I need to say for our trip in and around Turkey. We traveled from city to city through steep hills and swerving unpaved roads of varied ruggedness and steepness. We hiked through forests and swam in unbelievable clear blue lakes and glimmering calm seas. We drove through eternal mountains with their dangerous edges and cliffs, and through vast and infinite landscapes from which nothing was seen and everything was met. It seemed great physical stamina was the only prerequisite to this course.

It was the summer of 1996. I was in the Carnegie Mellon University Study Abroad program of the Department of Architecture. The program was conducted with the assistance of Professor Suna Guven of the Middle East Technical University and under the direction of Professor Delbert Highlands at the time. The program consisted of travel, design instruction, a drawing course and history lectures. The itinerary included several regions of Turkey as well as Northern Cyprus and Georgia. The program lasted about 8 weeks.

This site documents and exhibits my time spent there based on my sketchbook completed by the end of the tour. Short descriptions of the places visited are given. Pages of the sketchbook can be viewed here, which include sketches, plans, notations and measured components. This site is also an attempt to make my travels alive again with your comments, observations and analysis of my explorations on the architecture of Turkey. Through my sketches, I hope to gather some interesting discussions and go back to those travel periods where this beautiful land was presented to me.

It has been over a decade. My time there still holds a special place in my heart and I’d like to share it with you through my eyes. Let us look into the past in the present to point to the future!