ARALIK / INTERVAL

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

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Competition: As A Civilization Focus Presidency And City Assembly Idea Project Competition

(İBB Izmir Metropolitan Municipality)

Period: 2023

Type/Program: Cultural And Public

Surface: 2313 m2

Location: Konak/Izmir, Turkey

Status: Competition Proposal

Team: Özge ZABUN(M.Arch.), Hande ZABUN ESER(M.Arch.), Elif Dilara ALAN(Arch.),

Yıldız CEMALOĞLU(Arch.), Asu PALA(Arch. Student), Nilay UYANIK(Arch. Student).

 

URBAN CONTEXT | A PUBLIC FICTION INTEGRATED WITH KONAK SQUARE AND THE HISTORICAL REGION

 

The City Council proposal is developed with the awareness of being a center that can bring together different segments of society, in the context of the spaces desired to be established in the needs programme and the public space proposals that will serve the activities in the city culture that support them. The region of Konak, in which the project area is located, has been in existence from the Roman period to the present day; with its period-representative structures, monuments, squares, open spaces and streets, it retains its importance as a multi-layered commercial/historical/cultural center, where different periods are represented together.

For this reason, the proposed KENTMECLISI structure exploits the potential of the region with the proposed CULTURE / TRADE / GASTRONOMY routes around the project area, identifying the elements that make up the multi-layered identity of the region. The proposed structure aims to connect with the whole of the historic city at a high level, through the routes. It aims to remind the citizens of the region’s past and to increase interaction by ensuring the continuity of historic and public places located in different parts of the region. This design is on the upper scale, connecting Konak and its surrounding centers with cycling and walking paths; it proposes Konak Square and KENTMECLISI as a center of attraction, embodying all the rhythms of urban life with social and cultural activities.  In order to emphasize the pluralistic relationship and unity of the users both with the city and within themselves, closed / semi-open / open spaces of different levels / sizes / qualities are designed. The relationship between Konak Square and KENTMECLİSİ has been established with the proposal of an amphitheatre oriented open space landscape that blurs the boundaries and brings the citizens together. AMFI enables the emergence of spaces for new actions, interactions and encounters between KENTMECLISI and users. The amphitheatre called KENTSAHNESİ contributes to the urban life both as a stopping point of the proposed travel routes and as a spatial/public response of the space/space.

MONUMENTAL FICTION | TIME LAYER

KENTMECLISI; It starts with the idea of a monotonous steel structure and focuses on the intervals of time that represent the process of the region. It tries to create contemporary spaces between different layers within the time zones, with references to the history of the region. These spaces bear the traces of the squares, streets and meeting places seen in the region in the upper scale analysis. While the rhythm of the steel beams expresses the simple linear flow of time, it establishes a direct connection with the process of the region and society. INTERVALS encourages citizen participation in the building and has the potential to communicate/interact with the building’s users.

The structure proposed by the Presidency and the City Council is the local representation of the central government; it aims to capture the sense of belonging by interacting with the city. KENTMECLİSİ, which is proposed as a strong city image, rejects social class segregation in order to capture the sense of belonging and draws all users into FROM RANGE.