Göksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin

Göksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - Windows, WaterfrontGöksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - Wood, Windows, FacadeGöksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - BeamGöksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - Table, Chair, WindowsGöksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - More Images+ 26

  • Architects: Nevzat Sayin: NSMH
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  300
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2006
  • Photographs
    Photographs:Cemal Emden

Text description provided by the architects. The Bosphorus is one of the world’s most distinguished places with its unique landscape. The sea is there, exquisitely placid, the fertile land has suffused the valley in every shade of green. Its shores, which in the past were used as summer retreats, preserve this character and atmosphere to a large degree. While the European side has undergone a greater number of changes, the Anatolian side has protected itself from the violence of modernization, with a few exceptions.

Göksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - Image 21 of 31

Architecture’s motto, “you should build on the ugly part of the site” paralyzes the architect: “then you can’t,” he thinks, “do it anywhere along the Bosphorus!”…The very beauty of the Bosphorus does pose a threat for the architect as well as it inspires. Nevertheless, architecture can sometimes, though very rarely, “bring out the beauty of a place”…

Göksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - Image 9 of 31
© Cemal Emden

The office building is on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus; not right on the shore but a little further inland, along the Göksu creek. On the slopes behind it there is a cemetery, the fishing boats lined up all along the creek contribute with their faintly discernible rhythm to the tranquility of the spot. Here, a person forgets that he or she is at the center of one of the largest metropolises of the world.

The lot is exceedingly narrow. The building is constructed on the traces of two tiny dwellings that used to be here: these traces serve as guidelines for the locations and silhouettes of the building and the open spaces. The building wants to take advantage of the view as much as possible, it wants to be as transparent as possible form the interior, but at the same time it should be sheltered from the sun and maintain its privacy. And when seen from the outside what it wishes is not to be different from the surroundings, but to dissolve within them and remain inconspicuous: to blend into the greenery of the slopes, to mingle with the boats by the shore… For this reason it conceals its interior with a wooden veil and it surrenders itself to the tranquility of the place.

Göksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin - Deck, Beam, Handrail
© Cemal Emden

The decisions regarding the silhouette and materials take shape through a harmonious dialogue established with the memory and landscape of ‘place’. The building merely wishes to reveal and bring out, to display what is already there, latent.

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Project location

Address:Anadolu Hisarı, Istanbul, Turkey

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Göksu Office Building / Nevzat Sayin" 18 Feb 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/49957/go%25cc%2588ksu-office-building-nevzat-sayin> ISSN 0719-8884

© Cemal Emden

Göksu 办公楼 / Nevzat Sayin

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