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"Green buildings" are nowhere near the buzzword in Turkey that they are in the United States and Europe, so I was intrigued when I read a post on DesignCrave.com about Erginoglu and Calislar Architecture's new eco-friendly design for a telecommunications R&D center for Turkcell in Istanbul's Tübitak Marmara Research Center Zone, an cluster of high-tech enterprises about an hour outside of the city that Calislar likens to Silicon Valley.Last week, I met with firm co-founder Calislar and architects Ayca Taylan and Isik Süngü at their office in the Ortak"oy district of Istanbul to see if the project was as unusual as I thought.The spirit of the environment
Though the firm has designed concert halls, large-scale apartment buildings, offices,
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The green roof (top) and side elevation (bottom) of the Turkcell R&D building. Image courtesy Erginoglu and Calislar Architects via DesignBoom.com.In the case of the Turkcell building, completed last June, both its site and its intended use lent themselves to incorporating eco-friendly features. The techies who work at the 800-person building travel far to get there and often work long hours, sometimes spending days on end in the office while under a project deadline. "The building has to help maintain that kind of lifestyle," says Süngü, so it includes a variety of amenities -- from a fitness center to dorms for overnight stays to a movie screen that drops down in the main stairway so workers can watch important football matches.Lots of natural light
With light -- especially the natural variety -- being so important to office workers' well-being, the building was designed with an eastern alignment, angled side windows, and an open central area, features that allow natural light to enter from many directions, lowering electricity costs.The open architecture also allows workers to "see what's going on at all levels" of the building,
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The architects "used the existing slope to profit from the light and the view," Calislar says. Workers enter through the western-facing ground floor, a single-story section that houses meeting rooms, social facilities, and the dorms. As they move through the building,
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The architects' eco-friendly, ocean-going "chain village" concept for the Bodrum peninsula. Image courtesy Erginoglu and Calislar Architects.Another green Erginoglu and Calislar design will probably remain on the drawing board -- dreamed up a few years back for the Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, their "chain village" is a concept for a floating settlement with a continually changing view. Each link on the "chain" stretching between two parts of the Bodrum peninsula would be a habitation unit, with the structure's upper level public space and its lower levels private residences with ocean access. Wind turbines and solar panels would power the development, while the current passing below the chain would be used for natural cooling and heating. Sounds like a dream home to me.More about green architecture:
Top Ten Twitterers to Follow for Green Architecture
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Best of Green: Design + Architecture (Slideshow)
How Green Buildings Should Look: Ken Yeang
Why Is So Much Green Architecture So Ugly?
Green Temporary Showroom by Vector Architects
What Makes a Building Green? Kieran Timberlake Architects
Green Architecture Has Intangible Benefits
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