Residential Development in Istanbul, Turkey, Europe

1 Oct 2009 Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (SHCA) unveils its design for a 92 unit apartment building in a residential suburb of central Istanbul. SHCA's offices in London and Istanbul are collaborating on the design development and construction phases of this exciting scheme located in the up and coming area of Bomonti. SHCA is working for the Extensa Group, a European property developer with headquarters in Belgium. Extensa first appointed SHCA to provide a master-plan for a 2.4 hectare site which includes several development plots and an existing organic market. Following the delivery of the master-plan, Extensa commissioned SHCA to provide concept designs for the residential apartment building, which will sit on the first plot to be developed. The eight storey building is made up of studio, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and also includes a number of retail units at street level. These units are ideal for small cafes, restaurants or specialist food shops. Patrick Spears, at SHCA comments: "Istanbul has a huge population and much of the city's accommodation is in need of redevelopment and refurbishment. As such there is significant demand for modern high quality apartments such as this. One of the central features of the site is its orientation: it faces west towards a large open space that is occupied by an organic market. It is akin to travelling farmers markets which have become very popular here in the UK, but in this case, it is the real thing and has been long established in this location. "The principal elevations face east and west and in terms of the design approach we decided to have different design solutions for each aspect. On the east side of the building, we adopted a 'formal' response to the surrounding streets by arranging the accommodation so the apartments are stacked to form bays that are redolent of town houses, thereby creating a vertical emphasis. "On the west side of the building we chose a radically different approach to achieve a more 'informal' effect, as this side of the building addresses the public open space of the organic market. We gave this elevation a horizontal emphasis. This was achieved by grouping the windows in a horizontal arrangement and expressing the articulation of different levels of the building by recesses in the elevation. Some, but not all, of the apartments on the western side have balconies. We positioned these in a random pattern which we felt was more 'organic' and thereby in keeping with the spirit of the market place. We also included sliding louvered screens to windows as a shading device which added a further 'organic' element. The position of louvers will change according to residents needs. The scheme has a pitched roof that was dictated by planning requirements. As the roof is a fairly shallow pitch and is slightly set back from the parapet, it is not evident in nearby views of the building. We also inset balconies into the roof and designed the top floor apartments as duplexes so they could take advantage of the additional space and balconies within the roof. The duplex apartments will have stunning views across the surrounding residential roof-scapes of Bomonti. "We took great care to create a high quality internal environment and wherever possible we sought to bring daylight into the building. For example, the circulation areas within the building are linked by a large central light well. The light well also links to the main reception lobby at basement level and the secondary residential entrance at street level of the building. SHCA completed the detail drawings recently and the construction design phase is now underway. Plot 1 is scheduled to be completed in 2011. Istanbul Apartments images / information received Oct 2009