TAKSİM URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION
AAT4KS1M
URBAN DESIGN PLAN 1 / 2.000
SERBEST SAHALAR OR FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT Paramount to public life is a well-connected system of parks, plazas and public spaces. The competition area includes a key node in Istanbul´s public realm network as observed by Henri Prost in 1942 when he completed his largest public park proposal, Park No 2, which connected Takism Square with Maçka Valley. However, different planning decisions and large hotel developments have jeopardized the continuity of parks in the master scale of Istanbul. In this proposal, the valuable relationship between Maçka and Gezi Park is restored and considered as the starting point of a larger scale public green space development for the whole of Istanbul. Honoring the rich historical context of the competition site, the proposal aims to celebrate the past while simultaneously looking towards a more sustainable and just future. During the 17th and 18th Centuries the area supported a water distribution center, coffee houses, promenades and cemeteries and in the early 19th Century Taksim Square achieved a military function with the construction of the Artillery Barracks. Later abandoned, the military structure transformed into a successful public space and became Istanbul’s first football stadium in 1921 and a platform for cultural celebrations and events.
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OSLO 68%
SYDNEY 46%
ROME 39%
ISTANBUL 2%
GREEN SPACE IN CITIES AROUND THE WORLD
GREEN AREAS AT THE BEGINNING OF XX CENTURY
GREEN AREAS PROPOSED BY HENRI PROST
GREEN AREAS TODAY
TAKSIM SQUARE AS THE CONNECTOR OF ISTAMBUL GREEN NETWORK
Compared to other significant metropolises, Istanbul stands out as a city that lacks public green spaces, bringing into question the wellbeing, health and overall quality of life for its urban inhabitants. Research indicates that dynamic public life, has tangible benefits, from improving mental and physical health, fostering community cohesion, increasing economic value, and reducing violence and crime.
At the beginning of previous century, the green spaces around Istanbul was generous and evenly distributed. The wide streets and boulevards were able to create a more connected network than the one existing in the city today. These areas have not disappeared but diminished in size and quality. The project aims to bring these previous network back to city for the enjoyment of its citizens.
Henri Prost while working in the planning of the city of Istanbul proposed an extensive green network throughout the city. His largest public park proposal was Park No2 which was the area extending from today’s Taksim Square to Maçka Valley and this park was fully constructed in the 1940s. His attempt to connect the city through green areas were present in the masterplan for Istanbul.
Today, the green areas of the city have decreased in size and quality. Planning decisions in the last decades have lost the opportunity to create a connected system. The evenly distribution of the main green areas in the city has the potential to become an interconnected network. The seeds for a larger and wider system of green areas are waiting to be unified.
Different planning decisions and large hotel developments have jeopardized the continuity of parks in the master scale of Istanbul. In this proposal, the valuable relationship between Maçka and Gezi Park is restored and considered as the starting point of a larger scale public greenspace development for the whole of Istanbul.
TAKSİM URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION
AAT4KS1M
AXONOMETRIC VIEW WITH HISTORICAL LAYERS
The Peninsula’s historical significance for the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires led the state to choose the Beyoğlu-Taksim region to establish a new modern identity. In 1941, Henri Prost proposed a public space that linked his design with the topography of the Barracks with a focus on incorporating modern values such as open spaces and cultural programming. The city of Istanbul promptly adopted the concept of “Serbest sahalar,” implying a freedom of movement. However, today, many of these historic traces have been lost in time and only a few elements reflect Prost’s original plan for Taksim. These layers of history, full of possibility, become an intrinsic part of the design and celebrate the collective memory of the place. The natural landscape of the site, before the city expanded, is recovered to extend the green network within the urban area. A projection of the inner courtyard from the Artillery Barracks is incorporated through a light and open canopy structure. This performative and permeable structure serves as a central node for programs and activities within the park. Currently, the park faces major challenges related to accessibility and comfort. The park is disconnected from the city with dramatic changes in elevation that form a barrier with the surrounding context. The previous attempt to connect the various levels of the park with numerous stairs fails to provide universal access and excludes an entire community of users. This proposal addresses the challenge by integrating a continuous, gently sloped surface that connects the distinct areas and supports accessibility for all users. Focused on creating comfortable microclimates that encourage people to spend time in the park, the proposal considers dynamic water features that help mitigate hot air temperatures and serve as a kinetic element within the playgrounds.
Services
Comfort level
Accomodation and food sevices Culture, arts and enterteinment Health services
Environmental temperature
Religious Education
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Wind direction yearly
CONTINUOUS FLOOR
GREEN NETWORK CONNECTION
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONNECTION
PROGRAM/USES
CLIMATIC CONFORT
One of the main problems of use and accesibility of the current park is the height difference between the surroundings and the green space. Many stairs and walls avoid a smoooth connection between the park and the strees around. A continuous floor is proposed to solve all the connections through soft slopes in order to improve the accesibility and connectivity of the park and the city.
The central location of the site offers a unique opportunity to be the starting point and the connector of all Istambul green public spaces. The proposal enlarges the existing green framework and extends its limits to be able to penetrate into the city and connect the surrounding green areas. The pedestrian bridge over Asker Ocağı Cd. is widen in order to reinforce the idea of the green corridor.
The site offers a unique opportunity to connect and learn from the past. From the previous layers of the site to the rich cultural atmosphere that is currently located around Taksim, Istanbul citizens and visitors will be able to wander historic walks or enjoy cultural events all connected around the square. Past, present and future should be shared in the common grounds.
The new program proposed under the canopy structure will enable a desired destination and a succesful use of the center of the park. Flower shops, cafes, restaurants and learning hubs will engage users in the life of the park. The reduction of private car traffic will benefit the other uses existing on the site to engange with the public space and create a more liveable area.
The northeastern winds that are predominant on the site are crucial for the climatic confort and the temperature balance on the square. The landscape strategy, with evergreen and deciduous species, together with the canopy structure will enable to lower the high temperatures of the summer and to provide shelter and raise temperatures in the winter.
TAKSİM URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION
AAT4KS1M
LANDSCAPE CANOPY PLAN 1 / 1.000
Landscape design is never a still image: it is a process, a constant flux of natural and social events, a continuous and uninterrupted superposition of times and spaces. The project for the new Taksim Square and Gezi Park takes this complexity and mutability of the landscape as working tools and embraces them as distinctive characteristics of the site. The restoration of the site’s historical memory is not approached as a museum-like intervention of preservation, organization and presentation. Instead, it is aimed to bring back the landscape’s movement, its condition of a place rooted in a certain time and space that transitions to others without a clear final destination. It draws a continuous path from a certain starting point, but only intuiting the direction of development. The project superimposes the historical layers of the different landscapes that have occupied the site through time, since its origins as a rural space and gathering point to today’s urban Square. What remains of each of those layers is not a fossil, but a trace, a vestige, something that doesn’t locate the user in a fixed point but instead makes them travel across time and space.
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Mediterranean mosaic
Biodiversity level 1
Mediterranean shrubs
Existing tree canopy
Biodiversity nodes
Biodiversity level 2
Herbaceous and lawn
Proposed evergreen trees
Natural meadows
Biodiversity level 3
Therapeutic herbs and medicinal plants
Proposed deciduous trees
Therapeutic gardens
Biodiversity level 4
Seasonal gardens
Seasonal gardens
Biodiversity level 5
Urban orchards
Biodiversity level 6
The Central Lawn
Biodiversity level 7
Phytodepuration pool
Biodiversity level 8
Playground and sports
LANDSCAPE MOSAIC
BIODIVERSITY GRADIENT
STEPPING STONES AND BIODIVERSITY NODES
SHRUBS AND HERBACEOUS LAYER
CANOPY LAYER
Each of the mosaic’s tesserae is assigned with a different programmatic use and a biodiversity potential. The location of each ground of tesserae is not only determined by the new characteristics and programs of the park, but also by their proximity to its limits and the various synergies and urban and ecologic connections that the projects intends to resolve or foster.
The Mediterranean mosaic improves the urban green spaces’ biodiversity both in terms of species and ecosystems. Biodiversity is directly proportional to the amount of natural complexity and variation present on the site. Including less unnecessary pruning, lower water consumption as a limited resource, decreased need for phytosanitary products due to the reduced risk of plague appearance.
Distinct spaces associated to the mosaic laid in a “stepping stones” scheme. These nodes will serve as distributors of biodiversity for the neighboring green spaces. They feature dense vegetation in the three strata (arboreal, shrub and herbaceous), together with other elements such as biologs, insect areas, nest boxes and some low dry stone walls that favor the thriving of small species.
The lower layer under the canopy is strategicaly located in the park structure with local species and low water requirements. In the northeast area with the mediterranean mosaic denser species are chosen, while lower and varied species are located near the city center. The seasonal gardens will allow a more flexible setting depending on the season, event or celebration gathering.
The existing canopy layer of the trees in the park is preserved and protected. The new canopy structure is carefully integrated without damaging or interfiering with the current tree location. Evergreen trees are located closer and around the existing park and deciduous species are located in trees alignment and the areas closer to the city so no shade is cast in colder months.
TAKSİM URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION
AAT4KS1M
SECTION A (SPRING SEASON) 1 / 500
Seasonal gardens
Therapeutic gardens
Natural meadows
The Great Lawn
Interactive Fountain
Mediterranean Mosaic
SECTION B (SUMMER SEASON) 1 / 500
Therapeutic gardens
Seasonal gardens
Natural meadows
The Great Lawn
Mediterranean Mosaic
Natural meadows
SECTION C (AUTUMN SEASON) 1 / 500
A
Mediterranean Mosaic
Natural meadows
The Great Lawn
Natural meadows
Therapeutic gardens
Seasonal gardens
D
C B
SECTION D (WINTER SEASON) 1 / 500
Seasonal gardens
Mediterranean Mosaic
Existing sewage from hotel
Solar panel Wireless network
Tram
Meeting point Shared car
Bike paths
Electric car charging station
Bus routes
Intelligent streetlight
Metro M2
Interactive screen
Pavilions
Sensor monitoring system
Light poles (8 m.)
Metro F1
Derivation from sewage system
PV energy production
Bus stop
Derivation from rainwater network to 1st-stage treatment plant Existing rainwater network 1st stage to 2nd stage water treatment connection
Canopy lighting
Potable water supply Potable water derivation Underground water treatment plant (1st stage) Phyto-depuration water treatment plant (2nd stage)
Light bollards (0,6 m.) Light poles (5 m.) Light poles (9 m.)
Underground connection Ordered by energy consumption
TRANSPORTATION
SMART CITY
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
WATER CYCLE
LIGHTING AND SECURITY
The succesful public transportation system already existing on the site is exteded with the addition of new bus stops and timely connected with other modes of transportation. Bike paths are proposed as a key mode for a sustainable infrastructure and a shared system of electric bikes is suggested for the success of the proposal.
The connectivity throughout the site will enable an easier and integrated system that will benefit the experience of the users. From sustainable modes of transportation, like shared bikes or cars, around the site to interactive devices allowing the visitor to learn about the place or find out details about the cultural program proposed in the square.
The electric requirements will be fully provided by the PV solar panels located on top of the canopy structure (2.200 m2). These solar panels enjoy a great level of performance due to Istanbul’s high sun incidence levels, being able to exceed the park’s consumption by 70%. This energy surplus will on one hand reduce the site’s global carbon footprint.
During rainy seasons, the phyto-depuration pools are filled with rainwater. In drier months, sewage water from neighboring buildings (including the hotels ) is diverted into an underground tank, where the organic material is filtered out through an odor-free system, only retaining its nutrients. This filtered water is later distributed into the phyto-depuration pools. This water is channeled for its reuse for irrigation.
The open and continuos floor proposed in the project will allow a clear view throughtout the park and increasing the security with a controlled monitoring system. The canopy structure and the street lights will be lighted up with solar energy. The different areas in the park are lighted up depending on their needs, from taller more intense in the square to lower and less intense inside the park.
TAKSİM URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION
AAT4KS1M Green roof
Beams: Cross Laminated Timber
Core: Cross Laminated Timber Columns: sawn timber
SECTION A 1 / 100
Sliding doors
Base
SECTION B 1 / 100
Pavilion components
B
Solar Panels
Polished stainless steel cladding
Steel truss
Polished stainless steel columns
A’
A
PLAN 1 / 100
Pavilion components B’
Proposed stone
BIODIVERSITY NODES
2021
2031
Well Extraction Tunnel
Permeable green soil
INFILTRATION
Exististing stone
Permeable green soil
2041
EXISTING PAVEMENT STRATEGY
FLEXIBLE PAVILION SYSTEM
NATURAL WATER CYCLE
CANOPY: PASSIVE STRATEGIES
URBAN FURNITURE
The proposal aims to reuse the existing pavement on Cumhuriyet Boulevard and Taksim Square. These areas which cover 38.000 m2 were recently paved with a stone from Izmir. The reuse of the existing stone will cover an important part of the new surface of the public space. The new additions of stones will have the same size and a few more tones to the existing ones will be added.
The pavilions are envisioned as a flexible and reversible system that will be able to adapt to the future needs of Gezi park and Taksim square and will leave no trace on the site. These elements, linked to the canopy, can be modified in program, shape or size and substituted by the citizens of Istanbul in order to serve the city and adapt to an uncertain future.
The natural water cycle is brought back to the center of the city. The aquifer will work as a natural deposit for the irrigation water of the park: - Extraction of groundwater by pumping wells (recovered from the tunnel). - Natural reinfiltration of rainwater into the ground.
The canopy incorporates solar panels that supply energy to the square and it includes devices to reduce the visual impact of these and allow a connectivity network of wifi, Taksim App or light sensors. The water from the canopy and the permeable pavements is connected to the ground through sustainable drainage systems. The water collected in infiltration tanks infiltrates into the ground.
The proposal envisiones the urban furniture as a system of elements that establish a dialogue with the existing pavement. The fountains and benches are made out of local natural stone and the tree pits are designed as a soft transition between the paved areas and the soft ones. The fountains are located at the key intersections between paths and the benches vary from 5 to 10 meters in lenght.
TAKSÄ°M URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION
AAT4KS1M
SITE PLAN 1 / 500
+ 79.40
+ 75.30
+ 79.10
Bookshop
Coffee /Bar
+ 70.25
Restaurant
+ 80.20
Children area
Mediatech
+ 77.45
Coffee /Bar
Flower shop
Park Learning Hub
+ 82.80
+ 80.30
+ 83.00
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