The Kagithane Gardens is a business district that focuses on the users working and living qualities and addresses its presence in Istanbul as a new form of contextual and urban approach: The building is formed by our desire to make it interact with its environment.
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.
US$2.6 billion project is integral to Turkey’s plan to make its economy one of the world’s 10 largest by 2023
HOK developed the master plan for the Istanbul International Financial Center (IIFC) in Turkey, which is being built on a 170-acre site on the city’s Asian side. The Turkish government’s goal for the landmark IIFC project is to establish Istanbul as a global center for finance. The IIFC will house the head offices of the country financial market governing bodies, state-owned and private banks, and related businesses. It will include approximately 45 million square feet of office, residential, retail, conference, hotel and park space. With 13.5 million people, Istanbul has the world’s second-largest population behind only Shanghai. A February 2013 article in The Economist ranked Turkey’s economy as the world’s 17th-largest.
Sprawled across 2,000 square meters over five full floors and a basement/parking floor, the existing six-storey building was reorganized and converted into an office space for the Yemeksepeti project.
The primary objective of the project was to reflect the young, dynamic, unique, and fun working environment of the company on the office spaces. With this idea in mind, the project foresaw well-lit and spacious areas that would arouse a feeling of belonging among the employees.
The concept for the BIO Campus—a huge site just outside Istanbul that is becoming one of the world’s leading scientific research centers—had a holistic approach from the very start. The Austrian architects, AllesWirdGut, who recently received the “European Green Building Award 2012”, worked together with the German climate engineering experts Transsolar and the Dutch-born urban planning avant-gardist Ton Matton to develop an outstanding architectural and environmental project. The main idea is to create a self-sufficient and self-supporting accumulation of living spaces for work, scientific research, everyday life and recreational activities.
Looking at the design and realization process of the project one can notice that the challenge was to build up the perception of a firm through the ‘atmosphere’ it has and the ‘activities’ it hosts; instead of adopting a design approach which focused only on product display and aimed for a space with only showroom function.
Article source: Dinkoff Architects & Engineers Inc.
DISASTER PREVENTION AND EDUCATION CENTER
The rich culture of Turkey includes a monument to human achievement, invention, and practicality – a site called Cappadocia. More than two thousand years ago, the people of the region sought a strong, permanent and imposing shelter. Inspired by the natural geological formations in the region which withstood all natural onslaughts, the people carved and “engineered” homes and public spaces within those natural rock formations. They did this with such skill and esthetics that it still echoes today with vibrancy and life.
Yenikapı, ‘New Gate’, will become a railroad and maritime transfer centre in Istanbul that connects Europe with Asia, as well as the inner city with the surrounding megapolis and the rest of the country. Mecanoo architecten, in cooperation with local partner Cafer Bozkurt Architecture, designs the new gateway of 52,000 m², which will be a vital strategic intersection point handling 1.7 million people on a daily basis. Sitting on top of excavations that have changed the known history of Ancient Istanbul as an urban centre, Yenikapı will also host an Archaeo-Park with a museum and city archive of 36,000 m². The total area of the site is 27.7 ha and includes public space and several parks.
The SALT research center was envisioned as a public tool and a vehicle to research, exchange, engage, and create content. The uniqueness of the historic building and the spatial volume of the Avlu was something to behold and therefore our design approach pursued both in a dialogue. Underpinning the material and formal choices of the design is the building’s eclecticism style of the late 19th Century, the other designer’s approaches to create the building’s contemporary character, and to co-locate with the Beyoglu building. ‘Socially engaging’ to the diversity of potential users and visitors was the spatial organization brief given in by the user group.
View of mini cinema exterior (Images Courtesy Refik Anadol)
AutoCAD 2011 LT: General design coordination
Sketch-up basic: Geometric massing studies + coordination
LocAware: Sound sampling — a custom software to sample sound color and movement that we designed in 2006 with IKON
Rhino: for mini cinema 1:1 virtual mock-up
Adobe Illustrator + Photoshop: Fabric design + rare book text graphic
Microsoft PPT: for user group workshops
CONCEPT
Given the particular nature of the programme described in the competition brief, our proposal focuses on the realisation of a visually striking building that also represents a challenge to traditional architecture and engineering. Beginning with these objectives, and given the primarily didactic nature of the new Centre, it was our belief that the building’s main focus should be that of involving visitors. To avoid the design of a horizontally and vertically rigid, and thus monotonous work of architecture our proposal focuses on the creation of an educational loop that develops in two directions simultaneously.
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