First day on site
2005Electrical technician on a GIS substation installation in Istanbul: assembly, cabling, testing.
01 / An introduction A-001
The physical. The digital. The space between.
On site since 2005 — from substation cabling in Istanbul to building management, fire detection and suppression across Baku’s towers. Today I also build the software that makes that work clearer.
FIG / 001 — Exploded axonometricNTS · 3 layers
L1 · PLAN · THE PHYSICAL
L2 · SIGNAL · THE CONNECTION
L3 · INTERFACE · THE DIGITAL
Areas of practice: building systems, fire & life safety, BMS & automation, software & tools, technical clarity.
02 / The practice A-101
One practice. Several worlds.
Pick a lens and watch the same points redraw it: a plan, a schematic, an interface.
Select a lens · use arrow keys
Exhibit / 01SK — Practice
L101 / Physical intelligence
Understand the building.
Then connect it.
Building management, fire detection and gaseous suppression — from design and procurement to commissioning, handover and after-sales, to EN, NFPA and IMO standards.
L302 / Digital construction
Make useful tools
for real work.
Open-source developer tools, internal platforms and web products that turn complex information into clear, checkable actions.
L203 / Thought made visible
Explain the system.
Reveal the logic.
Training young engineers, handing systems over to the people who run them, and writing the documentation that keeps a building operable after the keys change hands.
Physical ↔ digitalForm / logic / use
03 / Evidence A-102
Proof, not adjectives.
Head of technical dept.
2018Leading BMS, fire-detection and suppression delivery at Nareks MMC — from design to after-sales.
Named projects
23Across Baku and Türkiye — from Crystal Hall and Borsa Istanbul to Port Baku Tower 2.
Countries
02Türkiye and Azerbaijan — delivered to EN, NFPA and IMO standards in both.
04 / Selected references A-103
Built to hold up.
Two kinds of work, one standard: it has to keep working once the demo is over.
In the fieldBaku · Türkiye
In softwareOpen source
05 / How I work A-104
Complexity is a material. Clarity is the craft.
Observe
Start with the real conditions: the equipment on site, the constraints, and the people who will operate it.
Connect
Map the relationships between physical behaviour, digital logic and human use — before choosing a tool.
Make clear
Shape the result so it can be understood, used, reviewed and improved — and write down its limits.
Understand first. Design with intent. Verify through use.
06 / General note A-105Istanbul, 2005 → Baku, today
In 2005 I was pulling cable for a substation in Istanbul. Today I commission building-management and fire-suppression systems in Baku’s towers. The rule never changed: a system is finished only when the people who run it can trust it.
07 / The person A-106
SK / Baku / Since 2005
An engineer’s eye. A maker’s mind.
I’m Sabahattin Kalkan, a systems architect based in Baku. I studied Mechatronics, Robotics and Automation Engineering at Sakarya University and have spent more than twenty years on site — substations, low-current systems, building management, fire detection and gaseous suppression — in Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
Since 2018 I have led the technical department at Nareks MMC. Alongside it I build developer tooling and AI infrastructure in public, with the same field discipline: verify, document, leave it clearer than you found it.
- Electrical technician, Kesir — GIS substation installation, Istanbul.
- EKS Elektromekanik — technician, foreman and site supervisor on low-voltage and weak-current projects.
- Armada Mühendislik, Baku — Crystal Hall low-current systems; site supervisor at the Flame Towers mall.
- Nemesis Elektronik — project supervisor for BOSCH systems at DP World Yarımca, Borsa Istanbul and Tüpraş.
- Head of the Technical Department, Nareks MMC.
- Field systems and software — developer tooling and AI infrastructure on GitHub.