InOut811 1930-1950 1930-1950 1983-2010 1983-2010 PHASE DIAGRAMS — YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW 1930-1950 1930-1950 1930-1950 1983-2010 1983-2010 1983-2010 1930 – 1950
1983 – 2010
2020 +
GENESIS
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
PHASE 1
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
Origin of the square / Inauguration of the park — The first steps towards the modern Taksim were started when the Republic Monument was unveiled in 1928. Over the years, additional urban plans were made, the crucial one being that of Henri Prost, who devised the plan for Gezi Park in 1940 (built). Built within the compass of square and park to the west was a whole new zone of residential structures with a markedly perpendicular grid. Also started apart from the major planning solutions was the construction of the first hotels, of which over the course of time there were to be more in this zone.
Expansion of the zone, pedestrianisation — Over the next 50 years, the development of the square was to be marked by emphatic construction along the edges (the Atatürk Cultural Centre, several big new hotels and so on). Also launched were the infrastructure projects of the building of Tarlabaşı Blv. and the pedestrianisation of the area. In 2013 there was a surge of protests because of the felling of trees and attempts to rebuild the barracks (which did not happen). The last building on the square was the great mosque, and a new AKM is now underway (with references to the historical structure).
Square, park and paths — The area of the brief has large dimensions, and in order to make sure it can be built, it is proposed it be attempted in phases. In the first phase the emphasis would be on the preparation of the basic infrastructure (water, electricity, geothermal water), paving of the square, the main paths and strips for pedestrians, as well as landscaping all the main green islands in the square (except to the north west). Also, to be built are the pedestrian fingers towards surrounding streets and context.
Gallery, bridge and attractions — The second phase begins with the execution of the most demanding layer of the project, which is particularly accentuated by the building of the large gallery space /lifelong learning hub to the west. The only large new architectural feature in the Parquare, the building is inserted unobtrusively into the park and is additionally lightened by the perforation of the atrium. Also to be built are the other attractions in the project area that will additionally enhance the quality.
Bridge 2 and Botanical Park — In the last phase, when the consolidation of the fundamental area of Parquare has been carried out — peripheral finishing touches are planned. The biggest operation is the formation of a botanical garden in the north east, a zone programmed for relaxation in nature and for learning about the vegetation of Istanbul and Turkey as a whole. A new long bridge to the botanical garden is planned, and the renovation of the existing bridge to the north.
DIAGRAMS OF THE WIDER CONTEXT
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
USERS IMPACT
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
The system of green oases — A contemporary system of bridge constructions has been devised, acknowledging the existing bridges to the north of the project area (across Kadirgalar Cd.) and with reference to historical bridges like the Gezi Park Pedestrian Bridge (designed and built by Henri BRIDGES BRIDGES EXISTING BRIDGES Prost in 1949 EXISTING butEXISTING demolished in 2013), forming an unbroken continuity of greenery and creating PROPOSED PROPOSED BRIDGES BRIDGES PROPOSED BRIDGES an Istanbul macro-landscape in the shape of green infrastructure. GREENERY GREENERY GREENERY
Distribution of the programme according to gravitation — analysis of the project area and the context shows the prevailing grouping of students as users of the structures to the east of the competition zone, the dominant inflow of local inhabitants (from the residential buildings) from the west, with tourists naturally present from all directions, but STUDENTS STUDENTS STUDENTS more distinctly via the strong pedestrian tracts from south and north. LOCALS In consequence, the features are grouped for LOCALS LOCALS these threeTOURISTS prominent groups. TOURISTS TOURISTS
Purpose of structures of the surroundings — in view of the analysis of user impact, the new open air parts / features within Parquare are very well apportioned, with the emphasis on education and culture as the dominant focal points of the reprogramming of Taksim Square and Gezi Park. In view of the existence of the large number EDUCATION features EDUCATIONalready in the surroundings, the only ofEDUCATION necessary major architectural intervention into the project area is the CULTURAL, CULTURAL, ARTS, ARTS, CULTURAL, ENTERTAINMENT, ENTERTAINMENT, ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, RECREATIONAL RECREATIONAL RECREATIONAL AND SPORTS SPORTS ACTIVITIES AND ACTIVITIES SPORTS ACTIVITIES tract of publicAND gallery / lifelong learning hub.
Existing bridges
STUDENTS
education
proposed bridges
locals
CULTURAL, ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, RECREATIONAL AND SPORTS ACTIVITIES
greenery
tourists
POINTS OF IDENTITY
PARK
URBAN STRATEGIES
+
SULTANAHMED SQ.
PARK + SQUARE
UNIFICATION + BANDS
FOCAL POINTS
PARQUARE — To date, the square and the park have been handled as two close but distinct areas (emphasised in the different height levels). They have been the subjects of separate competitions, layouts, phases and approaches to urban design. We are, then, designing a space that will have a single and united identity, beginning as coexistence of park and square. We have branded it as the first urban design typology that integrates the two, the park and the square — the parquare. Some of the great squares of the world have parks as adjuncts, as separate, isolated zones (Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park, Times Square and Central Park) but in this design we are providing integration and complementation.
Strategy of unification and bands — instead of the previous fragmentariness, the space begins to be handled integrally on the square and by being grouped into linear bands within the park. The great undefined space of the square (acquired after the historical banning of traffic) is now handled with a single formal language and freed of all vertical barriers, the sharp boundaries between Taksim and Gezi Park are done away with, the Park gradually coming down to the square level in great slopes and cascades, while grouped lines of programmes are implemented in the park.
Attractions — circles, the acknowledged dominant formal emblem of the current square, circles that are a fomal element of the memory of the space, will become by further multiplication the epicentres of events in the whole of Parquare. The new circles are spaces of vertical communications, key focal points for big events, new contents, attractions for tourists or else covered spaces for bicycle parking. The landmarks are distributed according to the number of paths, the volume of pedestrian traffic and the number of intersections, and are located in zones in which the most intensive use is predicted. Activation points are additionally illuminated and are pronouncedly material as compared with the rest of Parquare.
21st CENTURY
TACTILE OCTOPUS
BUILT UP DISTRICT
A contemporary place for the 21st century — For the new Parquare to be positioned in the city in relation to the other great square — Sultanahmet (with its two historical mosques)— the emphasis is placed here on its contemporaneity, in parallel with a respect for and retention of some modern spatial points (fountain and monument). It will become the focal point of the city of the 21st century — for both its contemporary manner of using the space and the introduction of genuinely new technologies/applications.
Strategy of a tactile octopus — with its tentacles, that is, its passages of bridges and underpasses, Parquare reaches into the surrounding spaces that will now form a great integrated network of public spaces and create a continuity, and all the parts covered are activated so they should not be abandoned, remaining a part of the city that is neglected and run down.
Permanent / temporary — along the western edge of Gezi Park, development is planned to be sunken so as not to dominate the park, but still enabling interaction of the zone of the park and of the street and additionally thereby eliding the current split into totally separated spaces. Now strung all along Cumhuriyet Street will be art galleries, spaces of lifelong learning hub and a whole run of ramps and steps that enable a direct access to the park. Thus the development will be not only a space for commerce but an activator of the street and a link between nature and the city urban tissue, and to an extent the memory of the space of the historical barracks whose facades were turned to this side of Gezi Park. All that is introduced into the park is the light structure of a multipurpose pavilion, to be occupied by such features as a café, an open mini-library or the necessary hygiene facilities.
PLACE AS PLATFORM
ISLANDS OF REPROGRAMMING
LINES OF MOVEMENT
SQUARE
PARKQUARE
Physical and Digital Platform — We propose the newly devised space as platform liberated from its previous spatial barriers, now enabling large free gatherings. Parquare will become a physical platform for socialising and for the practice of public life. In parallel we propose the making of a digital application via which it will be possible to book parts of the park for socialising, organisation of events, open-air teaching, mini-theatrical events and concerts. Parquare will thus become a platform for inclusive, democratic and participatory public life. There are particularly many young people in Istanbul, the average age being below 25. They have grown up in the time of vigorous globalisation and the age of the internet and using the application will not present them with any problems. They will find it easy to look upon the square as a platform for the exercise of their civil rights and for interpersonal coordination through the virtual world.
2000 TREES Space of 2000 trees, 200 paths, 20 attractions — Parquare plans to retain the maximum of the existing natural part, introducing new paths and points of attraction to encourage users to use it intensively. In this way nature is not only preserved, but curated, an integral part of the planned improvements. At the same time, Parquare wants to create the feeling that the citizens are really participating in the growth and development of Taksim and Gezi Park, feeling it their own, making the decisions about it. We propose that zones or islands of the park be left, within which, in time, the inhabitants of Istanbul will be able to plant trees of their own (1300 > 2000). Total participation is enabled — the citizens will themselves make decisions about which trees to plant and when, and so not everything will be defined in advance by the decision of architects or city administrators. Istanbul is in permanent want of green oases, and this approach allows for the creation of the muchlonged-for nature within the dense texture of the city.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SPACE Parquare as multi-dimensional space — instead of in the way in which the theme of square has been traditionally been perceived, as a flat, level, plane, Parquare is imagined as a space through several layers or floors, which gives it additional complexity, greater use-density and fully equal linkage of the hitherto covert underground parts with the above-ground surfaces.
Parquare as a new spatially uninterrupted whole k
Taksim Urban Design Competition
SPATIAL LAYERS
Strategy of islands and reprogramming — the existing high-quality points are preserved as green (square) and attracting (circular) islands. New islands of the archipelago with inserted contents are introduced as circular focal points that will become a part of the activation of the space. In this way the problem of the lack of contents is settled, for the newly injected programmes / circles are evenly distributed over the whole of the space, are designed in such a way as to involve all parts of society and for the activation of zones with no contents, often felt to be insecure if unprovided with programmes.
METROPOLITAN VERTICALITY Strategy of metropolitan verticality — on squares and parks, one-dimensional open spaces tend to be created, more appropriate to historical times. In order to achieve the dense and urban complexity of programmes, happenings and interactions that this square, one of the centres of a city of a population of 15 million, certainly merits, a complexity of vertical levels is introduced. There is indeed a multistorey complexity of buildings applied to Parquare, not, however, with development and privately owned structures but one that has a public-use character, a free-of-charge facility used by every citizen. Verticality is a social condenser that achieves density without architecture.
PRESERVING AND PRODUCING NATURE Strategy of preserving and producing nature — a greening in which all the inhabitants can take part is provided for, with the motto of preserve and produce nature. The dominant green parts of Istanbul currently to be seen from the air are the cemeteries, the city having a deficit of public greenery. For this reason zones with a potential for the planning of trees at some time in the future are foreseen, greenery also being inserted on the other vertical levels (−1 or +1). The inhabitants will thus learn how to share the space — not in just a small garden, but in one of the biggest public squares in Istanbul. This might seem to be but a small intervention, but instead of large new architectural undertakings into the square and park, we are planning the common growth of a common public space.
Different types of paths — currently there are tracks within Gezi Park and the pedestrian zone on the square, but without any clear directions of movement and frustrated by a mass of barriers. Strong indications of direction that create a density of pedestrian and bicycle traffic are proposed, emphasising the importance of the movement of users of the square. New lines of bicycle lanes, pedestrian paths, and bridge links. The basic division of lines of movement is into flat, strong strips, diagonal flat accents in the area with bridges (as continuation of the thrust of Tarlabasi Blv.) and opens up spaces of the square that provide freedom of movement and gathering. Movement through the park is made more feasible and accessible now with emphasised ramps, facilitating the use of public spaces by persons with special needs.
GRID OF GREENERY Continuity of the Past — a new grid has been formed evincing a sensibility for the memory of the space and the original design of the park, with maximum preservation of the historical matrix of grassed islands. The Parquare motto is “grow, don’t build”, reflected in the vigorous planting of new trees. It is trees and not buildings that will become the city-building catalyst for urban atmospheres, and provide the key identity for the whole project area. Preservation of greenery and planting of new trees is also a cost-effective approach to urbanisation and in a big city like Istanbul, giving public space a high quality branding, enabling it to become a sustainable ecosystem that will have a direct impact on CO2 emissions.
BLURRED BOUNDARIES Ramps, cascades and steps — through the mix of trees from Gezi and the strip of greenery that widens out to the south to Taksim, the borders between park and square are elided. The space of the project is a united whole defined by the experience of greenery and wide open spaces. The borders no longer have a hard height differentiation, rather, the descent of the park’s cascading greenery and ramps towards the square creates an unbroken connection, a continuity. Transitions from one spatial unit to another are not handled only as technical routes; the cascades are imagined as programme zones that enable events to be watched, on either park or square — the units are now open zones of visual interrelationship.