Our graduate received the 1st Honorable Mention Award from Torbalı, İzmir

The team led by İpek Üstündağ, a graduate of our School of Architecture, was awarded 1st Honorable Mention in the National Architectural Project Competition for the Torbalı Municipality Municipal Service Building, Marketplace, Parking Lot, and Surrounding Area.

The competition aims to obtain versatile, original, and functional projects for the creation of a new city center in Torbalı district of İzmir; projects that will meet the need for a closed parking lot along with the Torbalı Municipality Service Building, and will also include spaces that will serve as a district market one day a week and as a city square six days a week.

Congratulations to our graduate and their team members!

Design Team:
Ece Avcı – Istanbul Technical University Architecture,
Bahadır Kantarcı – Gedik University Architecture,
İpek Üstündağ – Kadir Has University Architecture,
Oğuz Öztürk

ARCHITECTURAL REPORT

Wall
“…There is a wall between you and me. I see you, I talk to you, but you are on the other side.”

Jean Paul Sartre, The Wall
The walls we follow along a road can have directional qualities, just like roads. The walls of buildings provide a backdrop for the activities and events that take place there, for the markets that are set up. They give importance to the street and define it. Instead of leaving the market floating in the square, we defined it, divided it into streets and sections. We created a square where the ‘wall’, as an element of the city, took on all its responsibilities and revealed all its functions. We included the market vendor who set up his stall at the foot of the wall, and people from all over the city…

We wanted them to lean against the wall, sit on it, let birds perch on it, have an exhibition another day, let people walk, walk even if there is no event, not just pass by, but wander around. While filling the empty spaces in the square, we tried to establish a balance between fullness and emptiness, between green park and hard ground, without forgetting the definition of the concept of a square, always keeping this definition in mind.

Preserving the structure and operation of neighborhood markets as ‘traditional shopping venues’, they are designed with visitors and buyer-seller communication in mind, moving as far away as possible from the mall concept. Walls that provide guidance without disrupting communication act as signposts in this large area. They help visitors discover the market and market stalls, making them memorable. They inspire confidence. The lightweight covering system and the walls it creates reflect a face-to-face encounter between the old and the new. The eaves, which form a structure of light frames when open, can be closed when the market is in session. During the market, the upper coverings provide protection from vertical climatic events such as snow and rain, while the walls designed vertically in places direct and mitigate the wind.

SOCIAL MUNICIPALITY
Opposite the square, the municipal building blends into the nature of Izmir with its striking whiteness, simplicity, and lightness, as if referring to the relaxed, calm, unique city life of Izmir. On the ground floor, we planned shared programs that encourage greater public participation, creating spacious areas that allow the social flow from the square to continue, with room for exhibitions and events. We aimed to integrate the square into a socially sustainable part of the city, compatible with its cultural past, diversifying its uses with accessible, transparent units that form part of people’s daily lives, such as a café, amphitheater, courtyard, and exhibition area. The municipality connects to the ground level through the main atrium. The main atrium defines a three-dimensional space with cashier desks, entrance, lobby, and waiting areas. The courtyards created below ground level form a multi-layered interaction area that enhances the visual connection between different functional units while allowing spaces to receive natural light and air. Similarly, the double-skin facade we designed brings natural light and air to all units, diffusing the light coming from the west as much as possible to create more comfortable office spaces. The wide gallery voids opened on each floor bring the municipal structure closer to the concept of a transparent and social municipality, while enabling a spacious interior design. The connections of the designed building to the city are shaped along the axes most frequently used by the public, the municipality.

The social municipal structure, together with its square, which is an important hub for Torbalı, focuses on meeting the needs of the city’s residents and guiding the city’s development by making a positive impact.