what if...

So what if those patterns were to make a city?

What if Istanbul was read as a carpet?

Making a quick sketch about this notion I came up with...

Trying to make it a bit more tidy and readable, I created what I think of Istanbul as a carpet in terms of identity. So maybe Istanbul's carpet would look like this.

In my attempt to explain its structure in a few words, I would say that this carpet is consisted of five elements all based on the circle.

So we see:

1. The triangle representing all kinds of cultural spaces

2. The square representing bazaars and financial districts

3. The hexagon depicting all religious spaces

4. The star that stands for universities, academies and colleges

5. The plain circle that represents all the other mixed uses of this part of the city

A significant crack in this carpet’s design is the water element which is shown with a light beige color because it is a natural element, a physical boundary. There are also some other cracks in the carpet, shown in black, those stand for the un-integration of the different areas in Istanbul. Many different nationalities, religions and financial statuses can be found in the city, but they really keep their metaphorical distances even though in reality they might adjoin. So this is a conceptual crack, an unsubstantial boundary, which could be stronger though. That is the reason why it is depicted in black. Those boundaries divide the city and make it difficult for people to integrate.