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Designing the Void
Current Situation Taksim district has numerous interferences, through the years by the needs and desires of the community and space. Every revision in recent years shivered the integrity of the physical space. Especially the last move that took almost all the motorized circulation under the ground, although a positive development, erased all the borders, history, and memory of the space. The main problems of the space are the lack of orientation in the vastness, the disconnections on the human scale, and the missing memories and history of the place.
Extending Gezi to the ‘original borders’ The actual land use of the site is formed by H. Prost, after the demolishment of the ‘Taksim Artillery Barracks’ for the sake of transforming an obsolete building into a public space, for Taksim Square plan and a continuous green infrastructure for the city. Named as ‘Gezi Park’, offering a loop trail surrounded by strict tree rows on the exterior, and more monumental hardcovered piazza inside, which considered the issues of re-arranging the logic of the original space use of the Historical Gezi Park Plan, in the first proposal.
Re-shaping ‘Cumhuriyet Street’ and Square ‘Taksim Republic Monument’ had been placed in a very particular space in 1928, which had a centric position and formed a physical square in a roundabout and axial connections with the surroundings, that also changed within time, and became an island in an ocean with the latest pedestrianization revision that implemented in 2013. Proposal offering the ‘re-creating Cumhuriyet Street’ which is a very important part of the ‘Istanbul Trade Axis’ by using the lines of the past, blending with the new connections to scaling both Monument and Taksim Squares.
Arranging Functional Urban Voids Proposal sustains programmable and flexible spaces for triggering public use, besides re-generating the urban void. ‘Taksim Square’ with a natural podium from park direction can be used for bigger events outside daily use, and ‘Gezi Courtyard’ would be the new heart of Taksim, which surrounded a new pedestrian trail ‘Gezi Skywalk’ encouraging people to visit various functions and events, from sports to concerts, festivals to exhibitions, during all seasons of the year. Park would be a new social and cultural hub for the city.
site plan 1/2000
TAKSIM FOR ALL! a grid for the city