Urban Room
Partner in Charge: Aras Burak, Aris Kozmidis
Structural Engineer: Scobie Alvis
Tutor: Jonathan Dawes, Marco Guarreri (AA Intermediate 6, 2008-2009)
Project Support: Maria Panagiota Brewster, Aine O’Dwyer
Description:
A hotel for frequent travellers, the public cube and the London Underground Station, Tower Hill is merged together. We have experienced the public square for centuries, how about experiencing the public cube? Is there any way of designing an urban room that will become a free space any time of the day to hang around safely.
We define the busy mornings and evenings of the station as urban tide. The term is coined for defining the exact moments in a typical London work day, where the building meets with masses. During the night time and afternoons the tide disappears allowing slower paced programmes to take place on site.
We have proposed shortcuts, backstage conditions for the hotel workers within the public cube. The precedents are taken from our visits with AA from Tokyo’s Shibuya Square.
Al Faisaliah II
Phase 1 / Project led by Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf and Beth Hughes (OMA)
Phase 2 / Partner in Charge: Aras Burak
What could be the next step for the designers of the CCTV to push the limits of the skyscraper design. Only when the client gives no budget limit and no height restrictions, it is possible to imagine a new loop skyscraper. The proposal is located right next to the Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The loop tower would connect the Foster’s mall with the Tange’s office building in Riyadh. The building is twisted joining in the middle of the whole height, allowing two meeting points to happen in a single skyscraper instead of one connecting bridge, like CCTV.
Camlica Mosque
type:
competition
date:
2012
partner in charge:
Aras Burak
local architect:
Elif Demir
description:
The design of a mosque has always been a hot topic for discussion in Turkey. The arguments in terms of style are always trapped between the traditional vs. modern choice.
Our interest was to propose only a great space with no tricks of numbers, secret meanings, mystical decision.
The greatest dome that can ever be imagined is the sky. Therefore we did not propopse a new dome, instead: we proposed a window to the sky.
The site was lacking a urban context that can help us direct the building’s design. Instead of seeing our proposal as an urban structure, we were not ashamed to define it as a sculpture + mosque on Camlica Hill of Istanbul.
The semi-open dome is located between the open courtyard and the indoor space for prayers. This semi-open dome frames the sky with five openings. Funeral ceremonies are to take place here.
In plan, the building is divided into four parts, one semi-open dome, one open courtyard, one indoor space for prayers and the last one as a social, secular space for conferences, activities.
These four sections are surrounded by the honeycomb shaped units where hallways, staircases and lifts are also located. This frame also incorporates the classrooms into the design.
Roof has a 100mm deep decorative pool to prevent access to the minaret and the semi-open dome’s sculptural part.
The dome that is facing inwards is an outdoor amphitheatre. Also for tourists, it could’ve been an ideal location to witness the time of praying. We tried to keep this quarter of the building’s accesses and programme seperate from the rest of the building.
Mahalle Vertical
A year of research on Metabolist Movement and Nakagin Tower in Tokyo led to the design of a new type of skyscraper neighbourhood.
With it’s 100 population each, compartments are proposed taking Mahalle concept of Istanbul as precedent. Mahalle is a transitional space between a single dwelling and district scale. This in-between social sphere had no place in modern architecture yet.
Instead of exploiting the modularity of Nakagin, the focus of the project is on a simple, repetitive but yet still interesting structure.
Kurbagalidere Masterplan
Olympic Masterplan proposal for Kurbagalidere, the Istanbul 2022 bid.
Obama Presidential Library
Obama Presidential Library is proposed as an iconic building on the edge of Chicago loop. Unlike the other Presidential Libraries of the past, Obama Library is designed to be more than a mausoleum or vault-like building. A public element, "The Bridge of Hope" connects three river banks and is located at the ground level, running through a bowl shaped amphitheater forming the lower section of the sphere. It was designed for discussions and allowing for unexpected participation, as well as for potentially uncomfortable moments with no barriers of solid walls or glass as a demonstration of true democracy. Spaces with higher security requirement are stacked on top of this amphitheater level in 8 levels which imitate the bridge in their form, which host the records and the galleries for the 8 years of Obama presidency, opening up to the city on each end, providing pleasant views. The shield like facade is a translucent surface which allows the limits of the sphere to blend with the sky, making the sphere feel like a soft object on the edge of Chicago loop.
Zorlu Center
type: Competition date: 2007-2014 partner in charge: Aras Burak, Aris Kozmidis description: Shopping mall, hotel, residential and office building on a highly valued site in Istanbul. Client, Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, a wealthy businessman from Denizli, had a desire to build an iconic building that can become an architectural masterpiece for Istanbul. As a young practice, we are not interested in the value of the building that is calculated by square meters.
We believe smaller spaces with great architectural value are worth to invest, not the square meters. The site is highly congested. It is right next to the major transportation hub of the metropolis, Zincirlikuyu. There is a beautiful modern building, one of the first skyscrapers of the city, Karayolları Headquarters by Mehmet Konuralp right at the north east corner of the new building.
We wanted our design to be in a relationship with this tower. Having a corridor for view towards this building from the other side of the site was the design decision to keep in mind for us.
Galataport
The proposal for the new development of the international cruise terminal after privatisation of the existing buildings. The reclaimed concrete foundations are reported to be hopeless and the tear down of the existing foundation is suggested by the engineers for the site of new Galataport. We chose not to propose a whole concrete base covering the whole site. Instead, we preferred to keep the already built edge, forming ice cubes that would float in Bosphorus, hosting different uses. The ground level would act as bridges connecting each building to the land.
