Based on the idea of creating a new classroom complex for METU students, METU Yuksek Proje Lecture Hall built with the valuable donations of Yüksel Proje was opened with a ceremony held on Friday, January 11, 2019.
In the opening ceremony, Celal Akın, Chairman of Yüksel Proje Executive Board and a graduate of METU from Civil Engineering Department in 1979, and METU President Prof. Dr. Mustafa Verşan Kök delivered their speech.
Celal Akın stated in his speech,“METU is, beyond dispute, the best university in the country, and makes a difference with its quality of education, environment of freedom, physical and social characteristics of the campus as well the high educational level of incoming students.”Expressing that“We, METU alumni, have to give so much of ourselves for the further development of our university. Ultimately, there is no other METU”, Celal Akın highlighted that he was a METU graduate and he acquired all the qualifications he has today thanks to the education he received at METU.
President Prof. Dr. Mustafa Verşan Kök stated that the universities especially in the US and Europe keep up with the support of their alumni and they took the lead in paving the way for the alumni donations and contributions. Extending his sincere thanks to Yüksel Proje wishing that the contributions such as Yüksel Proje Lecture Hall would increase in the future, Prof. Dr. Kök gave Celal Akın his academic transcript and a certificate of graduation as a gift and presented a plaque of gratitude.
About Yüksel Proje and METU Yüksel Project Lecture Hall
Founded in 1978 and providing service in the construction industry, especially in design, engineering and project management, Yüksel Proje operates in the areas of transportation, superstructure, infrastructure and environment with almost 85% METU alumni working in the company. Following closely the sectoral developments in Turkey and in the world and adopting an innovative organization, the company takes firm steps towards becoming one of the leading companies in its sector in the world with its human resources power, working principles, strong references and innovative perspective.
The foundation of Yüksel Proje Lecture Hall, which was completed in eight months with the donations of Yüksel Proje, was laid on April 12, 2018. Yüksel Proje Lecture Hall, a social responsibility project of Yüksel Proje for the 40th-year anniversary, is the first grant project carried out on the campus of Middle East Technical University.
The lecture hall was built based on a brutalist architecture, where raw constructional elements such as concrete and bricks are left exposed. In the lecture hall constructed to present a structure that would put the contemporary architecture into a dialogue with those constructed before, a design is aimed to be manifested by reinterpreting the approaches in other buildings of METU campus in terms of texture, space quality and use of common areas.
Within the building with 1850-person capacity, there are 4 lecture theaters in total comprising of 17 classrooms, and 2 halls with 250 person-capacity each. METU Yüksel Proje Lecture Hall, which ended the need for classroom space for METU students, will host first students in the spring term of 2019.
