-
Architects: EAA - Emre Arolat Architecture
- Area: 9500 m²
- Year: 2013
-
Photographs:Cemal Emden
Text description provided by the architects. Along the strip of land between the sea and the coastal road from Bodrum to İçmeler, which is amongst the most popular holiday destinations in Turkey, one doesn’t expect to see a group of buildings on a large scale. It can be claimed that this strip which is preserved in its natural texture, provides a surprising freshness for the eyes that are accustomed to the density of buildings that exists inside the city of Bodrum.
Vicem Residences are located on a rocky tip of this strip. The tension that arises from the conflict between the virgin quality of the coast and the presumable dense physical pattern that is going to be built on the site emerges as the most crucial driver for the design. In this sense, the settlement scheme can be regarded as experimentation of mass fragmentation that problematizes the phenomenon of the stereotypical “large single house” which is widely seen at Bodrum, as it displays concern about topography in the three-dimensional sense which is developed regarding functional relationships and vistas on the land. In order for the buildings to integrate with the natural texture and even dissolve into the rocky site, the buildings are designed as fragmented masses and the surface articulation of the parts that sit on the ground is kept as natural as possible.
Thick stone walls provide efficient isolation and keep the inner space cool in summer and hot in winter. Other masses that are located above them, in other words, perch upon them, are designed in a subtle way that they have a light, evanescent existence. The facades of those masses are covered with wooden louvers that can be oriented according to the sun. The facades of the masses below, which can be opened completely, let the fragments merge and act as a whole space. With the help of cross-ventilation, shady courtyards in-between provide a cool breeze on hot summer days.
The arrangement of the landscape is considered in a similar conceptual context. Instead of a heavily planted over-green landscape, it is aimed to create a landscape that shares a common genetically with the existing natural landscape of the tip that is rocky with bushes and different surface characters of that rocky texture is considered as an inspiration.
