GÖKKUBE MOSQUE Building Office
Table of Contents
Introduction 5 Site 7 Design Compeition (2012) 9 Courtyards 11 Concept 13 View: Context 15 View: Çamlıca Hill 17 Roof 19 Section A 21 V’ew: Southern Corner (2016) 23 View: Avlu (2016) 25
Çamlıca Mosque
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Introduction
The design of a mosque has always been a hot topic for discussion in Turkey. The arguments in terms of style are always trapped between the traditional vs. modern choice. Our interest was to propose only a great space with no tricks of numbers, secret meanings, mystical decissions. The greatest dome that can ever be imagined is the sky. Therefore we did not propse a new dome, instead: we proposed a window to the sky. The site was lacking a urban context that can help us direct the building’s design. Instead of seeing our proposal as an urban structure, we were not ashamed to define it as a sculpture + mosque on Camlica Hill of Istanbul. The semi-open dome is located between the open courtyard and the indoor space for prayers. This semi-open dome frames the sky with five openings. Funeral ceremonies are to take place here. In plan, the building is divided into four parts, one semi-open dome, one open courtyard, one indoor space for prayers and the last one as a social, secular space for conferences, activities. These four sections are surrounded by the honeycomb shaped units where hallways, staircases and lifts are also located. This frame also incorporates the classrooms into the design. Roof has a 100mm deep decorative pool to prevent access to the minaret and the semiopen dome’s sculptural part. The dome that is facing inwards is an outdoor amphi-theatre. Also for tourists, it could’ve been an ideal location to witness the time of praying. We tried to keep this quarter of the building’s accesses and programme seperate from the rest of the building.
Photograph by: Baki Karakoç
Çamlıca Mosque
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Site
None of the participants for the design competition we participated was awarded with the first prize. The second prize winner with the contriubition and editing role of the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself carried on the further development for the project.
Çamlıca Mosque
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Design Compeition (2012)
Our proposal was not only aiming to create a place for worship, the project objective for us was to create a timeless building with no belongings, a shell for human to have peace and protection while they gather.
ÇamlĹca Mosque
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We planned to dedicate one of our roof plates to open air performance arts.
Courtyards
While the other one acts as the roof of the indoor prayers’ area
The early proposal included privacy screens for ablution. Çamlıca Mosque 11
Hollow concrete shell repeats 7 times in order to create the space. As a coincidence, the number 7 has its importance for 7 hills of Istanbul, God’s creation of earth in 7 days and for many is considered as a lucky number.
Concept
Ulu Cami, Hasankeyf
Blue Mosque, İstanbul
Gökkubbe Mosque, Çamlıca
We believe there can not be any dome consructed by a man more spectacular than the skydome our earth has (gök kubbe) therefore we used it in our building.
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View: Context
Gökkubbe Mosque, Çamlıca, looking towards the old city and the modern İstanbul.
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View: Çamlıca Hill
The presence of Gökkubbe Mosque on the Çamlıca Hill illustrated looking from Acıbadem district.
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A very shallow depth of water surrounds the roof providing the natural cooling above the semi-interior space while creating spectacular reflections on the roof.
Roof
The square shaped plinth carries the sculptural concrete shell, sunken into the topography.
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Section Title A
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V’ew: Southern Corner (2016)
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Team: Aras Burak Aris Kozmidis Elif Demir
View: Avlu (2016)
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