The Design Laboratory IV,
aims to address the urban project in a context of particular complexity. Students will have to work in a transscale manner and address urban-scale design through the definition of a master-plan (1:1000) which will take into consideration the relationships between the project area and the surrounding context, to then define a building at cultural character that will be studied and designed in all its parts on an architectural scale (1:200/1:100).
The context
The geographical context of this project is particularly stimulating and concerns the city of Istanbul in Turkey.
Over the years, several professors from the Department of Architecture of Pescara have carried out research within the Adriatic-Balkan macro-region. Therefore, on the basis of a multiple series of research experiences, teaching and disciplinary comparisons in different cities of this region, we have developed a series of awareness that have offered us, over time, a familiarity with these contexts. This laboratory wants to start from these assumptions.
We are therefore talking about a vast region that is the subject of renewed interest, where countries that were considered partly marginal are acquiring their centrality and a more significant geopolitical role in the entire and complex scenario of Eastern Europe.
A region that must make us think of a new inclusive and transversal cultural policy, just as diagonal/transversal is the axis of the Adriatic which from the heart of Central Europe extends to decidedly eastern latitudes, until it reaches the eastern Mediterranean.
This geographical transversality must become a cultural transversality capable of integrating experiences and knowledge that have developed within this vast region which sees the Adriatic, the Ionian and the entire Mediterranean as fluid spaces of relationships and exchanges, the Danube as a possible northern border and Venice and Istanbul as the two founding cities and certainly the most representative of this vast context.
The site
The project area is located in the Galata waterfront area, at the intersection between the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, practically the beating heart of Istanbul, crossed and traveled daily by thousands of people, cars, trams, boats and ships .
The Galata waterfront has undergone (and is still undergoing) significant transformations, although not as dramatic as in other urban contexts. However, the previous urban condition linked to small buildings, small docks, fishing and small transport is being replaced by public use of the waterfront with interventions that aim to free up often dilapidated buildings and create large open spaces for the public. enjoyment of the sea front. A significant experience just concluded is the redevelopment of the entire eastern sector of the Galata district with the construction of the Istanbul Modern building, created by Renzo Piano, which contains public and cultural functions.
The project site is therefore one of the most central and vibrant in Istanbul. It has very high accessibility as it is a crossroads of countless urban and maritime routes, it represents the urban front of Galata, an important historic district of the city and, finally, it falls within those rare conditions where the architectural project, in its most complex articulations, can offer meaning and recognisability to an urban context which is already very significant in itself.
The program
The intervention will concern a portion of the Galata neighborhood along the Golden Horn, an area commonly called Karakoy, formerly a neighborhood of fishermen and artisans.
The new project will have to relate this area to the surrounding context, with the portion of the waterfront towards the Galata Bridge and beyond, and above all with the upper part of the Galata district, through already existing routes. The project will have to propose public use of the waterfront through green spaces, public functions and equipment that allow collective use of the same and the complete enjoyment of the relationship with the water.
Within this new configuration, the project envisages a new building with a public and cultural character, which can be considered as the counter-altar of Toronto Modern. It is considered that culture should be the main driver for urban regeneration and, in a city like Istanbul so full of its own history, a place that represents a contemporary, transversal and inclusive culture, can become a social aggregator and a point of reference for the entire city.
The building will be made up of various components, strongly integrated with each other. As indicated in more detail below, there will be a component with exhibition spaces and temporary exhibitions, a component for performances, conferences and debates (auditorium) and a component for study and reading (library). It is also requested that each group of students propose a further component chosen by them which can integrate with the components described above and can above all determine the true character and image of the building.
