ISTANBUL.- The ArkiPARC 2008 event organised by Arkitera Architecture Centre taking place at the Harbiye Istanbul on 15-17 October 2008 is getting ready to welcome guests who are all experts in their own field, whether in Turkey or in other parts of the world. The main sponsors of the event, which is also supported by the Ýstanbul 2010 European Cultural Capital Agency, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Independent Architectural Platform (SMP), are Siemens Home Appliances and Vitra.

Among the guest architects coming to the event are Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who is an important influence on architectural production in the world, Mustafa Kemal Abadan, the only Turkish partner in SOM, one of the largest architecture offices in the world, Mete Arat, architect of the Aslantepe Stadium, which has had a place on both the sports and architectural agenda for a long time, and Nigel Dancey, one of the partners of another of the world’s largest architectural offices, Foster & Partners.

In addition to star architects, ArkiPARC 2008 is also getting ready to host important real estate professionals and planning experts in Ýstanbul. Jan de Kreij, executive committee member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and European ULI President William Kistler are among these guests and frequent visitors to Turkey. Philip W. Charls, Chief Executive Officer of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) will be attending an event in Turkey for the first time. Nick Johnson, serving as deputy chief executive of the award winning real estate development firm, Urban Splash, and USA based Portman Holding’s Vice-President John C. (Jack) Portman III are awaited with interest. Manuel de Sola-Morales from Barcelona, Kees Christiaanse from Rotterdam, Michael Schwarze-Rodrian from the Ruhr and Sidney Rasekh from Washington DC are the important guests of ArkiPARC 2008 concerned with planning.

Richard Simmons and Peter Bishop, executives of the two important organisations concerned with the physical environment of London, CABE and Design for London, are among other names participating in the event in Ýstanbul.

Registration is required to attend the ArkiPARC 2008 event as a spectator. A reduction of 40% is offered to those who register by 15th September. Having registered, other than the conferences, it will be possible to see a section of the Ýstanbul Model to be launched for the first time at this event, to come together with professionals in the sector, to join the helicopter tours offered exclusively to registered persons, and to experience this event that is to be held for the first time in Turkey.

Business Networking
In addition to the event and its awards, ArkiPARC 2008 aims to provide participants with the opportunity to establish connections with one another and to create environments conducive to meetings. To this intent the event area is organised to facilitate meetings and business discussions during the day.

An application used for the first time in Turkey in ArkiPARC 2008 will also enable registered persons to see one another’s contact information by using a special section on the ArkiPARC web site to follow the event. This system used at big events outside of Turkey will add value to the event by enabling participants to contact one another prior to the event.

Three Special Evenings
Following the day time events taking place at ArkiPARC 2008 on 15, 16 and 17th October, a different social environment will be on offer every night to the participants.

The ArkiPARC Opening Invitation to be held on the first night will provide one of the most important environments for socialising using all areas of the Event Site to bring together real estate, architectural and construction industry professionals. In addition, at the Opening Invitation real estate professionals will sit round a table to play Monopoly for the first time in Turkey.

The Vitra Night event to be held on the second evening will offer a variety of surprises to participants. The ArkiPARC Awards’ Award Ceremony to be held on the last night is a candidate for the biggest award ceremony concerned with the built environment.

ArkiPARC Awards
As part of the ArkiPARC 2008 events the biggest award project will be realised in the real estate, architecture and construction sectors.

The final date of application for the ArkiPARC 2008 Awards to be given to individuals, organizations or products that are of distinction in the sectors is set as 10th September. The award ceremony for the ArkiPARC 2008 Awards that will be presented in the five main branches of Urban Quality consisting of the Dialogue Award, the Real Estate Award, the Young Architect Award, the Client’s Award and the RAF Award will be held on 17th October at 19.30.

Real Estate Award
The Real Estate Award, which aims to evaluate the gains of the real estate investments to the city, the citizens and the investor in a joint project and by awarding the project stakeholders on account of the positive influences they have created to encourage the development of similar investments, will go to its owners in six different categories.

For the first time this year, candidates considered for the awards to be given in the fields of Residential, Office, Hotel, Shopping Centre, Alternative Investments and Mixed Used are projects whose construction has been completed within the borders of Turkey in the last five years.

Client’s Award and Young Architect’s Award
The Client’s Award will be given in the two categories of the public and the private sector. The award, which aims to honour clients who have supported the production of quality architectural applications taking into account the public responsibilities of the architect and the client from the year 2005 to the present, will go to its owners as part of the ArkiPARC event every year as of 2008.

Similarly, the Young Architect’s Award given since 2004 to young architects under the age of 40, will go to its owners every year as part of the ArkiPARC event.

RAF Award
The RAF Award will be given for products that have made an important contribution to architectural projects and that have a sales network within Turkey. The basic aim of the award is to honour performance, the characteristics of the materials used in production, conformity to standards, resilience over time and to the conditions of the external environment, and the producers of construction materials that add value to the physical environment with environmental effect.

ArkiPARC Awards Award Designs by World Famous Designers
The ArkiPARC Awards, which will be given in a total of 11 categories, will also be acclaimed for the design of the awards. The awards, which will be designed by a different designer every year, have been designed by this year’s designer, Tanju Özelgin. The award designed by Özelgin, who drew attention to the issue of global warming with the cover he designed previously for the RAF Product Magazine, will not be shared with the public until the Award Ceremony. The designer of the 2009 award will be announced at the 2008 award ceremony.