residential pattern

from Istiklal Street - nuteras

sandwiched layers

connecting mahalles

walk

edited grid

layers

courtyards

courtyards

types of rings

ramp terraces

main walk

great interior

system

In this version, the width of the frame is 9m. The height and the lenght changes as you go towards north. Also there's a sectional depth (mirrored) for the chains that are curving towards west. this will allow indoor public programmes take place on norht western side.

mahalle II

overlapping

larger courtyards

spreading to allow larger courtyards

the height

new ground levels

After rotating the squares 2 degrees each to curve towards the Golden Horn, the spine like public route will become a link between Taksim and Golden Horn. These squares can be filled with public programme since approximetely 2 million people cross over Istiklal Street in a normal weekend. This route will be an extension to the Istiklal Street.

This, being the second phase of the first Mahalle project, I take the idea of a ring - the mid-scale element that forms my Mahalle's in the tower and this time align them as a path stretching from the Istiklal Street towards Golden Horn. Although they are placed just next to each other, because of the topography, the height difference between them varies.

 Currently Kasimpasa Stadium and TRT Tepebasi headquarters is located on the site. 

Frank Gehry's new cultural center sponsered by Koc Holding and many other regeneration projects are taking place on and around this site.

The developments effect the smaller neighbourhoods (mahalle) and the complaints are about the lack of awareness for keeping these neighbourhoods, shared urban spaces in the new developments.

catalhoyuk

the oldest residential

There is a streetless city existing 10.000 years old in Anatolia called Catalhoyuk.

My iconic project can be a retake on the idea of interlocking - adjacent buildings without having any typical streets, using rooftops as shared walkways and shared spaces.

iconic residential

The year started by looking at Nakagin Tower by Kisho Kurokawa in Tokyo. 

This project represents our prejudgements for only understanding only one way of living in dense cities is building high-rises.
Highrises separate our personal space from the ground level, creating spaces that lack any shared spaces with the city. The capsules are the extremely compact living spaces not much different than the condoniums that became the standard for living in today's cities.

We are trapped by the idea of stacking one floor above another in order to live denser. We are building towers that only has one ground level even in cities with hills. In cities like Istanbul, treating a sloped landscape as if it was Manhattan, results in tragic failure. Streets become unwalkable, buildings that claim to be one of the highest buildings in Europe becomes invisible at many locations of the city. 

What is the point of trying so hard applying formulas that are beautifully working in flat cities; to cities like Istanbul?

There must be other ways of living denser not necesarily depending on verticality.

When the vertical iconic fails, the iconic landscape can win.


My project is an investigation on building a streetless city, where the building becomes city, providing density that does not depend on verticality.

iconic fictions III

Architectural Association School of Architecture / 2009-2010

Diploma 9 by Natasha Sandmeier and Monia de Marchi

"Architects have long used fiction as a tool: first to explore and design uncharted territories, and second as a presentation device. Fiction, both written and visual, is an experimental practice to try out spatial and relational ideas in the unconfined territory of an imagined world. This year we will invent fictions to theorise and visualise space and form.

This third year of the Iconic series will hover between fiction and reality, as the unit sets out to imagine our possible futures. While economic and cultural ambitions generally have shrunk drastically since we first introduced this agenda two years ago, the unit’s projects have followed a decidedly contrary path – becoming increasingly bold and far-fetched as the Dow Jones decreased. And so this year we will carry the momentum forward as we blur the line between the real and the imaginary, weaving fictional stories around and through our projects as we develop truly fantastical iconic proposals.

The unit believes that the icon is not only still possible, but is crucial at a time of waning optimism. The unit demands above all an unselfconscious and highly personal belief in architectural potential, imagination, criticality and profundity. This year we will push this to extremes as we use fiction as a device to stretch architectural, spatial and cultural boundaries. As in previous years, we will demand highly individuated student investigations into a deliberately broad spectrum of project considerations, including context, publicity, programme, image and beauty.

The students of Diploma 9 begin the year with the making of a highly personal, individual manifesto, whose expression frames the year ahead. This year your manifesto will also set up the fiction that will weave around your personality, project, site, and cultural context as you shape your icon. Taking account of the optical dominance of the way we view our environment, we place a heavy emphasis on the deliberate construction of images and scenarios to illustrate the manifesto. These images will exaggerate – even downright lie – in the telling of their tales, a quality we feel is a fundamental aspect of designing and manipulating an iconic image alongside its proposal and story.

Students will choose their own sites as they relate to the first project of the year. They will be real sites in real cities. Seminars on the topic will be held in collaboration with students from the MA in Histories and Theories throughout terms 1 and 2."