Oman- Architectural talk held at GUtech

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- As part of a series of lectures on architecture and urban planning, the German-Turkish architect Ercan Agirbas recently gave a talk on the context of urban and architectural change at the Department of Urban Planning and Architectural Design of GUtech.

Alexander Kader, head of the department, said, 'With the series of lectures, we would like to give our students an international outlook on the current issues in architecture and urban planning.'

'There has always been change and there will always be change. It is a story which each of us writes. You never know what is going to happen,' said Ercan Agirbas who has more than 30 years of experience in architecture, realising many architectural projects. Moreover, he has been teaching at universities including ETH Zürich (Switzerland) and RWTH Aachen University, GUtech's German partner university.

For his innovative eco-friendly designs, the architect has won several landscape and architecture competitions in Germany. Agirbas and his team designed a public garden for the regional garden exhibition in Leverkusen. Originally, part of the soil was contaminated with chemical waste and had to be regenerated for the garden. Today, it is still used as a public garden.

In addition, Agirbas designed a social housing project in Leverkusen, where houses had no staircases but small bridges leading to the apartments.

He also won the German Steel Innovation Award for his concept of a bridge in a public park. Agirbas recently conducted a student excursion to Istanbul where many ancient bird houses are part of the buildings. His students had to design and build small bird houses. Finally, Agirbas encouraged the students to play an active role in creating and designing urban spaces, while leaving a low carbon footprint on our environment.

GUtech offers an internationally accredited, four year bachelor of science programme in urban planning and architectural design.

The programme includes international excursions and a summer internship. GUtech graduates have found jobs in public and private sectors in Oman.