istanbul: The Latest Architecture and News

Arkitera Architecture Center is an independent architecture center that has been dedicated to sustain a better architectural practice, enhance the architectural culture and to raise the architectural quality in Turkey.

ARKIMEET, one of the brands created by Arkitera Architectural Center, is developed as the most significant meeting platform among the architects in Turkey. With the motto "ARCHITECTS MEET in ISTANBUL", the event will comprise national and international conferences, panels and award ceremonies to honor individuals and institutions which contribute to the improvement of the urban quality. In addition to these activities and awards, it is aimed to provide opportunities to establish one-to-one connections among the participants and providing appropriate meeting occasions.

This year speakers include Julien de Smedt, Durmuş Dilekçi, Anne Marie Galmstrup, and Josep Lluis Mateo among others.

Complete information after the break.

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Grimshaw just announced that they have been selected by the Vehbi Koç Foundation to design Koç Contemporary, a new contemporary art museum in Istanbul. Due to open to the public in 2016, the new project has been conceived to fulfill the Foundation’s vision of showcasing the growing Koç collection to the broadest possible audience and to place these works in a national, regional and international context of contemporary artists. More images and architects' description after the break.

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Focusing on the users' working and living qualities, the winning proposal for the Premier Campus Office in Kagithane addresses its presence in Istanbul as a new form of contextual and urban approach. Designed by JDS Architects, the building is formed by their desire to make it interact with its environment and acts as a catalyst of business life for a new Istanbul that promotes contemporary culture, architecture and lifestyle. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Integral to Turkey's plan to make its economy one of the world's 10 largest by 2023, the HOK-designed master plan for the Istanbul International Financial Center (IIFC) is now in construction. Built on a 170-acre site on the city's Asian side, the Turkish government's goal for the landmark IIFC project is to establish Istanbul as a global center for finance. The IIFC will house the head offices of the country’s financial market governing bodies, state-owned and private banks, and related businesses. It will include approximately 45 million square feet of office, residential, retail, conference, hotel and park space. More images and architects' description after the break.

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ONZ Architects' ‘Tearing the Ground’ proposal was recently awarded as one of the five finalists in the Istanbul Modern YAP 2013. Their design consists of a contemporary interpretation of a flying carpet constructed with reused plastic units, made of marine litter. The project team tears the ground and lifts up this carpet and puts it in the air with everything it conceals. Thus, the plastic waste produced by the city becomes the main material for the installation. More images and architects’ description after the break.

'Seapeaker', was recently named as one of the five finalists for Istanbul Modern "Young Architects Program" 2013 cycle. Designed by the collaborative team of Evren Başbuğ, İnanç Eray, Meriç Kara, and Engin Ayaz, the main intent of the project is to be a hearing aid for İstanbul. It highlights the city's muted qualities in an unexpected way. Designed using rigorous acoustical principles and the generative capacities of the site, seapeaker amplifies sounds of the sea underneath and punctures a new connection in-between. More images and architects' description after the break.

In its third year, the AA Istanbul Visiting School, Vertical Interventions, in collaboration with Istanbul Technical University, will continue to rediscover verticality through novel generative design techniques and large-scale physical prototypes. Abstracted as a fusion of various sub-systems, each subsystem of the tower will be investigated in relation to their various performance criteria. The correlations between the separate sets of performance criteria and evaluation methods will be analyzed, leading to the generation of unified design alternatives for a vertical system typology. In addition to the custom-made digital design and evaluation tools supporting the core methodology, Vertical Interventions will also highlight the fabrication and assembly of a large scale working prototype integrating the performative characteristics of each system in examination.

As in 2012, the design agendas of AA Athens and AA Istanbul Visiting Schools will directly create feedback on one another, allowing participation in either one or both Programmes.

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