Medine Altiok (1974) is a German-Turkish architect. She graduated from the AA in 2000 and gained a postgraduate master in Design Culture from the ZHdK in 2010. She is the founder of MOCA Office for Culture and Architecture based in Zurich and initiator of a series of research projects dealing with cultural, political and economic changes in the Mediterranean. From 2005- 2010 she taught design studios at ETH Zurich with Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow Wow) and Felix Claus (Claus en Kaan). She conducted urban research workshops in Los Angeles (SCIARC), Tokyo (TIT), Yokohama (YGSD), Istanbul (Bilgi University) and at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg. Since 2011, Medine teaches at the AA. Together with Stephanie Tunka, she is programme director of the AA Visiting School Mittelmeerland series and co-founder of the Mittelmeerland Organisation. www.medinealtiok.com and www.mittelmeerland.org
Mittelmeerland is an initiative and research project investigating the future of the Mediterranean as a“territory“ of water. Mittelmeerland uses a comparative approach with detailed case studies of port cities and their coasts. By analyzing current urbanization and future developments, the aim is to generate narrative statements and mappings. A series of six workshop session will take place in Dubrovnik,Tangier, Istanbul, Algiers, Alexandria and Beirut. The purpose of the workshops is to examine how the Mediterranean region can position itself as a ‘territory’, one that is based on climatic and economic conditions, and subject to specific social, political and spatial dynamics and experiences? What can each city do to turn the Mediterranean from one of the largest hotspots of the world into an Eco Spot?