The start point of the project were the vertical circulation cavities in apartment buildings and the fact that, generally, they do not have any other purposes than being a path on the Z axis towards the destination point and serving as a filter area between public and private spaces. Briefly, planned only to serve their function of transferring, vertical circulation cavities are usually narrow, dark and boring places.
In Şişli, and actually the whole axis from Harbiye to Mecidiyeköy, the apartment buildings make ~95% of the area. They are usually 6-9 stories high. By time they have degenerated into multifunctional buildings with a bold horizontal commercial axis on the 0+ level continuing vertically and ending with 3-4 stories of residential spots. So when we start analyzing their vertical circulation cavities, they somewhat got closer to public space, interface actually, without getting any less narrow, dark or boring. Also after taking few buildings as a focus area and analyzing their vertical circulation cavities we realized that they take up to 15% of the total area of the space, and considering the fact that dense people traffic is not present (because vertical commercial points are clerical type) 15% means quite a lot of ‘narrow, dark and boring’ space.
Our proposal to the site is creating vertical circulation ports from outside (backyards of the apartment blocks) that would serve few apartment buildings at once. That would save space, increase the people traffic, and with the fact that they are placed outside, become more welcoming. With much more space to spread outside, some other functions may be included. Bringing new function doesn’t have to mean transforming the space into common apartment living rooms, just integrating something which can increase the time span of spent time there than the general 0.5 seconds per stair, we usually spend. The flexibility of the created space will lead to spontaneous usages which will emerge with time.
denizüstem aminapatak
