Tire Apt. student housing project in Istanbul, Turkey by Esin Yürekli

Article source: Esin Yürekli

This project is designed and built as a housing project for students attending the two nearby universities. The apartment building contains app. 37 sq.mt. one-bedroom units that can comfortably accommodate up to two people. The plot faces a small state owned forest. Circulation areas inside apartment buildings are generally closed, dark spaces and therefore utilized at a minimal level. However, these areas play a critical role in the building’s relationship with its environment, in the formation of the social structure within the building, and in the life cycle of the inhabitants.

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

• Architects: Esin Yürekli
• Project: Tire Apt. student housing project
• Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

Turning these spaces, which constitute a large percentage of the building’s internal area, into lively, social spaces connecting the building to the outside was one of the major goals of the project. Two vertical shafts added to this circulation system connect the roof (which is a large common area) to the lower floors, allow skylight into the circulation area, provide ventilation, strengthen intra-building relations, distribute mechanical and electrical systems within the building.

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

The open pipe and cable network is an extension of the building’s pure, raw, and simplistic style, and is an indicator of practicality with its easy-to-maintain layout. The most important façade of this circulation system, which connects the building to the street and contains the main entrance was left open. The open cantilevers are private spaces, split up by acrylic plates in various colors to create different visual perspectives from the exterior. These spaces have been designated as fire escape areas.

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

This concrete building is composed of block floors and load bearing walls for simplicity and ease of use. The polyurethane material applied to both the interior and the exterior surfaces of these concrete walls helps preserve the concrete texture, visually and physically. The railing around the roof and balconies, and the stairs are steel, while the landing and walkable surfaces over the ventilation shafts are glass, laminated with white film.

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

The floors inside the apartments and hallways are covered with epoxy coated grout, thereby connecting the apartments with the exterior. Sliding doors made of 10 mm transparent acrylic boards in various colors are used inside apartments and for closets to save space and allow light through, enabling interior spaces to be continuous and cozy. The same acrylic material is used to cover the ventilation openings between bathrooms and hallways.

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

Interior walls of the apartments are painted in different colors highlighting the continuity of surfaces, openness and functionality of the spaces. The plastic window frames are gray, forming a background for the other colors inside the apartment and preventing the interruption of the concrete texture in the wide window openings. At the moment all of the apartment units are occupied.

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

Image Courtesy Esin Yürekli

Tags: Istanbul, Turkey

Categories: Hostel, House, Residential

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