fundamentals | biennale di venezia 2014 | postcards from the future | Istanbul 2014-2064

fundamentals

Rem Koolhaas

biennale di venezia 2014

postcards from the future

Istanbul

2014 | 2064

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New Eden The urban sprawl has eaten all the city vegetation. A green oasis is built in the water surface and a new Eden welcomes peoples and merchants to walk and rest in its peace.

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Urban raft The constant need of movement and travilling gives birth to moveable buildings that in Istanbul will use water as their main mean. A massive floating element allows different modular distributions.

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Shelter In the city of mosks a new religious building is erected and will host all religions under its dome.

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A new level A new model of urban development is tested in Istanbul. A new level spreads above the saturated existing one. The needs of inhabitants is organized according to the regular grid and the entire structure is erected on a forest of pillars.

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Remember The historical heritage of the city, often forgotten or ignored, is now enlightened.

Not even the most distracted people will ignore it.

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Energy The city morphology has changed and a new dam supplies all the energy needed.

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Doors The commercial importance of the city will finally be explicit thanks to strong symbol at its entrance.

It will serve as signal and logistic device.

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Connections The future Istanbul will be always more connected in all its parts. Also the buildings will have this duty.

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Expansion A new building soars in the sky in the confidance that no future catastrophy will affect it.

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Reconstruction The shaken city is ready to restart its path and the mosk is slowy regaining its majesty. A light structure scaffolding bring new air.

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Density The urban development is accelerating its rythem: the available space is always less and the need is always higher. Old building’s reconversion allow general rethinkings.

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New symbols The submerged city transmits that tranquility that had be forgotten in Istanbul.

New symbols arise.

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After The global warming and the consequent rise of the sea levels is compromitting more and more cities. Istanbul is one of them. The scenery is tremendous but poetic. All is gone, but life continues under the constant presence of the ancient ruins.

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Protection The city was submerged as a result of a flood and the most important buildings are protected by massive walls, creating islands of peace.

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Rediscovery Old forgotten ruins are valorised and they become the point of arrival of a city that grows below.

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New skyline New elements for clean energy spire over the city, engaging with the monuments and minarets. The community joins forces under the banner of nature.

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Cut Future scenarios are often unpredictable. The land is torn apart by an earthquake and the two sides found a connection thanks to a suspended element.

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Reconquest Spaces for a long time transferred to the road are recaptured and valorized by citizens.

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Public terraces Citizens claim the key points of the city, creating public spaces above the tallest buildings in order to allow an amazing view of the surrounding territory.

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Inversion Green areas are reducing; it involves a so-called Inversion: the green back to the city and citizens are condensed into tall buildings that arise from existing ones.

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Underwater The city expansion takes place inevetibly. Istanbul is denser and denser and the vertical development is not the only solution.

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New power The new city powers are not even imaginable nowadays. The contemporary symbol of Istanbul is towered over by a new one, which origin and meaning are to us unknown.