February 2010. It didn’t take long to decide to work with him, but I wanted to make the conversation last, he warmed the cockles of my heart as the meeting continued…
When I met him, I asked, “Which name should we use?”
“It does not matter, both of them are used,” he said.
“I will use Yaser, a name that I have never used.” I said.
“Elif Hanım, you decide very quickly” one of our friends said.
“He is a uniquely debonair boy,” I said.
“What is debonair?” he asked. “You will know when you meet him” I replied.
Later, he came to me cheerfully, saying, “I now understand what debonair means”.
Onur Yaser Can, the debonair boy of our office, a good boy, our son, our brother, our friend, our colleague, who opened his mind and his heart to everyone; our honorable butterfly, is not with us since 24 June 2010.
He had just turned 29 when he left us. It is such a short time, isn’t it? Only five months… To know a person and to be able talk about his occupational talents…
This brief time was enough to know about Yaser. A short business meeting was time enough to know that Yaser was modest, strong, confidential, honest, responsible, and skillful… and a good young boy. He created an atmosphere of cheer, energy and joy around him.
His contributions to the special project that brought him to us have been accepted. I did not feel the need to check the duties that I gave him during those five months. I could trust him.
I thought to myself “I must tell him all that I know”. I valued his opinion, “Yaser, what about you?” “Should we accept the Project?” “Yaser, is the subject is good for you? We will work voluntarily, and you may have to work more than you should work, what do you think?”
What I saw after he left was that he had completed many tasks. He did a lot of stuff and he completed the project before he was gone and I did not know that…
Yaser, entered the METU Faculty of Architecture in 2000, and continued his education in Belgium / Brussels Saint Lucas Fine Arts School for art and painting for a year as well as Italy / Bari Technical University Faculty of Art for art and architecture education for a year. He had occupational experience in architecture offices and he set his heart on music. Yaser, the diver, playing the drums and guitar, and water polo, must not be forgotten.
Let me talk about an accomplishment of his; He prepared a project for Romans living in Kagithane Yahya Kemal district.
Yahya Kemal Town was the one of the oldest (1940) Roman settlements. The residents of the Roman settlement were paper collectors, flower sellers, and musicians. Increasing trends of the Kagithane district affected this area in the last 5 five years and residents were asked to evacuate the district to create recreation areas. The municipality offered the residents a low-income option in different parts of the city, but they often returned to their district because they could not stand economical and social conditions. The rest of them resisted for a long time. A lot of meetings were held with the municipality. The aim of the project was to support the idea that places for residents of the district could be created where residents lived within their own conditions with better welfare without being relocated.
Our friend Onur Yaser observed the demographic structure of the residents that had already moved or were about to move, listened to their demands and understood their problems. He designed a place, compliant with common life, the increasing population, entertainment and job culture, to be built with a minimal budget.
The design made it possible for residents to use the waste as a resource, supporting the sustainability of city and making the district more beautiful.
The project was designed as a steel structure, made with recycled waste metals. It was thought that waste paper could also be used as a sealant material after its processing. Priority was given to communal living areas, both open and closed, that are necessary for life and culture in solidarity.
Parking lots for waste collection devices and factories for converting waste into useful products were designed. A lot of care was taken to support the economical and social improvement of the residents in the district. Sport facilities, shown as a socialization factor by the municipality, were also included in the Project.
The project was designed to make the city gain back the district, seen as a “failure”, as real living area, together with the residents, not only as a decoration. It was designed to preserve the lives, needs, structure and culture of the district. Unfortunately, it remained as a Project only, despite all the efforts of its partners. A poster representation was performed at “Social Form of Architecture” in October 2010 as a tribute to our Onur Yaser Can.
Yaser was “local” and his feet were on the ground but he was just like “a butterfly about flying” as he engaged to the world as well. He deserves what is written and told about him and we watched his crystal form in a human body during those five months.
I was calling him Yaser. He left us with a deep gap in our lives as an honorable butterfly.
We will remember of him with his own projects in the Architecture Chamber Ankara Branch at 16:00 on 3 June 2012. With his architecture Project, competition projects, designs, statuary, music with the preparation of his family, his friends, Optima Mimarlık, Erdem Mimarlık, Plan A Mimarlık and Mehmet Aksoy… We will talk about a fleeting yet real, honest, passionate, sincere, friendly and honorable life of a skillful colleague. In other words, “we will raise our Onur Yaser from the dead”
For the record…
“If a side leave away
Unless imagination frame is not filled up
A deep gap covers one of my sides
But lonely deep gap
Lonely side of me
Not to avoid my existence
Saying if it comes out of cocoon
Butterfly
Other side of me must hide the gap
Thus, it must be bury itself into a deep gap”
The text was written by the architect Elif Ozdemir who is the owner of “Plan A Mimarlık”. It was published in the Istanbul Chamber of Architects bulletin.
