Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, Mausoleum of Atatürk, Anıttepe, Ankara, 1941-53
Photograph: Rob Dettingmeijer

EAHN Fourth Annual Business Meeting, Ankara

The Fourth Annual Business Meeting of the EAHN committee took place at the Middle East Technical University ( METU), Ankara from 13-15 February 2009. Committee member Belgin Turan Özkaya along with Elvan Altan Ergut and other colleagues from the Faculty of Architecture ably coordinated the weekend’s exceptionally full program, allowing for discussions with Turkish colleagues and the exploration of several millennia of architecture in Ankara, in addition to the business meeting agenda. Fourteen out of twenty-three committee members attended the meeting, and on Saturday we welcomed four new committee members to our group, bringing our total to twenty-seven for 2009. In addition to the committee members, Isabel van der Zande from the EAHN office at ®MIT, TU Delft, as well as Marc Visser, director of the ®MIT Research Center, joined the meeting in Ankara.

After a lunch hosted by the METU Rectorate on Friday, we continued the tradition begun at our 2008 business meeting in Leuven with presentations on Turkish graduate programs and research institutes in architectural history organized by our hosts for our first afternoon at the METU Faculty of Architecture. Representatives of ten research programs and organizations presented profiles of their curricula, projects and facilities. The day concluded with a lively reception hosted by the METU Faculty of Architecture Alumni Association.

Committee members discussed Network business all day on Saturday, reviewing the accomplishments of 2008 and planning new projects for 2009 and beyond. Committee member Jorge Correia was elected Second Vice President of the EAHN, reflecting his outstanding efforts as General Chair of the EAHN First International Meeting in Guimarães, June 2010.

The EAHN 2010 Advisory Committee worked intensively during the entire weekend, meeting Friday morning and early afternoon, Saturday evening after dinner, and Sunday morning to plan details of next year’s conference in Guimarães. The publications committee met Saturday evening over dinner to discuss plans for a future journal. Sunday midday and afternoon we toured a traditional Ankara orchard house maintained by the VEKAM research center, which also hosted our lunch there. After lunch, we continued our tour in the historic center of Ankara.

Full reports on the Turkish research forum and the EAHN business meeting will be published in the June issue of the EAHN Newsletter; the minutes of the meeting will be posted on the EAHN website.