Lessons from Ottoman Doors and Windows

A JOURNEY THROUGH OTTOMAN KUNDEKARI DESIGNS

Course data in brief

Instructor: Prof. Dr. Miroslaw Majewski

Course duration: 10 weeks, 2 hours per week + discussion time

Course timing: Fridays

6:00 PM GMT, UK Time,

7:00 PM Cairo Time,

8:00 PM Istanbul Time,

9:30 PM Tehran Time, …

Dates: 04 March - 06 May, 2022

Language: English and no translation (sorry),

Level: intermediate, advanced

Group size: 30-60 participants, please register here:

www.istanbuldesigncenter.org

Registration ends on February 24 You will be informed by email if you are accepted.

The Story

In most of the old Ottoman mosques in Turkey, we can find enormous doors and window shutters with intriguing geometric art, known as kundekari in Turkish or woodworking in western terms. Kundekari art was and still is a celebrated form of woodworking craft. Some of the kundekari works are very simple, and their geometry is easy to decipher for most of us. Some others use advanced geometric techniques such as geometric inflation or structural design.

In this course, we will take a virtual journey through some of the mosques in Istanbul, Bursa, Edirne, and a few other places. We will discuss geometric patterns, at least some, from these places. We will reconstruct many of them but, of course, not all. Geometric patterns from the Ottoman Empire it is a huge topic that we could continue for years.

Essential features of the course:

• All coursework in Geometer’s Sketchpad – the essential software for teaching school geometry

• Focusing on concepts and understanding of pattern design

• Strict attendance rules

• Free of charge – there is no fee for this course

• International group

• Online delivery

No pain, no gain

The course will be demanding, and you will be expected to demonstrate your progress in the form of finished designs. You will have to submit them always before the next class.

Feel free to ask questions and discuss with us anything related to this course. There are no silly questions. Each question may lead to an exciting discussion and forming valuable knowledge.

Important – if you miss two classes, you will be removed from the course.

Geometry goes first

The focus of this course will be on the geometry of patterns - not on particular designs. Understanding and creating geometry for a pattern or group of patterns will always be the two main tasks. Patterns will be treated as a decoration for geometry.

Geometer’s Sketchpad

Geometer’s Sketchpad (GSP) will be an essential tool for all our works in each course class. It is much easier to learn geometry and pattern design with a geometry program than do your design using traditional tools. For this reason, this course can be particularly useful for mathematics teachers.

We will use the free version of GSP. No need for a license. GSP for Windows (at the moment, it is in intensive testing) can be downloaded from link

NOTE: this is a testing version; some bugs may still exist.

GSP for Mac can be downloaded from link

Again, this is a testing version, and some bugs may still exist.

Of course, you can forget about Sketchpad and draw your patterns by hand on paper. But this is the only course where you can learn how to use Geometer’s Sketchpad to draw patterns.

If you know GeoGebra and you want to stick to it. This is OK. But you are on your own. I will not be able to help you with using GG.

Course topics

1 Learning how to use Geometer’s Sketchpad (one class, 2 hours tutorial for people who have no experience with GSP).

2 Revision of basic features of Ottoman design (one class)

3 Patterns from Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Uskudar

4 Patterns from Shezade Mosque in Istanbul

5 Patterns from Sultan Selim Yavuz mosque in Istanbul

6 Patterns from Ottoman tombs

7 Patterns from Suleymaniye Mosque

8 Patterns from Bursa

9 Patterns from Edirne

10 Various designs

Teacher and students

Miroslaw Majewski (Prof. Dr) is a former Professor of the New York Institute of Technology. Currently, Professor Emeritus of NYIT. Many years of research in the geometry of art and technology for mathematics. Author of numerous books and publications (many of them related to the geometry of patterns). Designer of many geometric patterns – some are reconstructions of well-known patterns, and some of them are entirely new.

Students: This is an academic level course, and it fits nicely into some university programs – graphics design, architecture, mathematics education. Thus mathematics teachers and professional artists, and architects are particularly welcomed. Anybody ready to work hard and learn the theory of pattern design will find in this course some useful knowledge.

If you are interested only in drawing a few simple patterns (just to impress your friends), then find yourself another course. There are a few of them around.

Before starting the course

You may consider looking at some books. You will find there some important fundamentals useful for this course. In the first book, the foundations of geometric pattern design are covered. The second book covers material from the fall 2020 course on Persian decagonal artworks. The last one covers pattern designing techniques used in the Topkapi scroll.

You may consider looking at the book

Selected Participants to attend the Workshop

Alexander Amir Khan
Alifia Khan
Almoatasem Bellah Haggag
Amina Smits Akilma
Ayşenur Genç
Bayan Yousif Omer Elbashir
Bengisu Kuş
Beritan Çiftçi
Berna Yıldızhan
Burcu Sansan
Ebru Eren
Elif Didar Abacı
Eman Hijazi
Emirhan Özmen
Enes Karakaya
Fateme Khedmati
Fatima Malik
Ghazaleh Khayat
Habibe Sultan Özhan
Kadriye Can Topal
Kamiliyah Basith
Keerthana Kvsk
Keya Patel
Keya Patel
Leyla Betül Küçük
Liya Ur Rahman Liyakath Alikhan
Mahdieh Jala
Marzieh Kaviani
Mona El-Taher
Neesha Mewada
Nisha Rajaratnam
Nubia Sofia Chavez Vera
Richa Dilip Raut
Rushda Rafeek
Saniya Saba
Serra Ulusoy
Shameena
Sibel Anamur
Soubhi Samakie
Şeyma Baş Ceylan
Şeyma Nur Gurbetoğlu
Twarnpreet Singh
Uzma Khalid
Yasmin Sethi
Yüsra Doğan
Zahra Kashani-Khatib
Zeinab Fazli
Zekiye Şahin
Worrapoj Waiyaveta