Tabanlioglu Architects - ATATURK CULTURAL CENTER
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ATATURK CULTURAL CENTER

Tabanlioglu Architects

Culture  /  Future
Tabanlioglu Architects
Designed by Tabanlioglu Architects, the new Cultural Icon for Istanbul, the Ataturk Cultural Center, was unveiled on November 6th, 2017. The new contemporary culture center will appeal to a general public greater than other facilities have previously been possible to accommodate. Although it will mainly serve as a new opera house, the center will also have venues ranging from cinema and theater to exhibition halls, cafes and restaurants.

The Atatürk Cultural Center will be built to accommodate performances of international stature and designed to contemporary requirements and current technologies. As a very comprehensive urban structure, the center is also expected to be a major attraction for the city's residents and thousands of tourists visiting from around the world.

Preservation, restoration, and a new 21st century design provide the foundation and future for this great social experiment and public project that will serve generations of visitors and future populations of Turkish citizens.

Originally built in 1946 as the “Opera House,” and later transformed in the 1960s as the Cultural Center, the project was designed by Dr. Hayati Tabanlioglu, father of Murat Tabanlioglu, the current architect. The first project took 23 years before opening in 1969. Sadly, after a fire in 1970, it took another 7 years until the second opening of Ataturk Cultural Center, which was again designed by Hayati Tabanlioglu.

This relic of the 1970’s, now with its new design, passes through generations for the third time, with Tabanlioglu Architects, from father to son. The new center forms a bond between past, present, and future, and unites through design, the urban fabric and culture of Istanbul and the Turkish people. Today, the new Opera House, will act as the future center of arts and culture of twenty-first century Istanbul, a city that is the central location between the East and West, home to numerous cultures and classic civilizations.

The arts and culture units articulated in the main building includes a 2100-seat and 2 balconies, large hall with natural acoustics. Hence, the new AKM will be transformed from a single unit into a large, comprehensive cultural complex.

Alternative and secondary features such as smaller concert halls, theater halls, cinemas, libraries, design shops, and cafes and restaurants between them, will be located at various levels along the culture street that is passed through the annex; the low-rise serial buildings connected to each other at basement level, and ultimately to the main building. These capacities are also independently accessible from the street level.
Through the cascading extension with a green landscaped roof, a second entry, or a secondary piazza, is granted that will be formed in the direction of the congress valley where Atatürk Library and Technical University are located. Being public buildings, one of the most notable elements of opera houses are squares. AKM defines the edge of the Taksim Square, and the new project enhances the relationship with its unifying and connective accomplishment through art and cultural activities.

More transparent than the old one, AKM's façade will provide a clear view of the red outer shell filling the volume of the main opera hall; the powerful image of the bright semi sphere will emphasize the presence of the Opera House.
On the roof of the main structure, there will be a restaurant affording panoramic views of the Bosphorus. Along with opening the spectacle to public, it is envisaged that this meeting place will provide opportunity for financial support for the operation of the cultural center.
Besides the unquestionable cultural advantage to be gained through the re-establishment of AKM, local products and natural materials will be used in the construction, recalling the fact that many of the materials came from abroad during the period when AKM was first built. Now, thanks to the modern production capacity that Turkey has achieved today, local products will be used.

Architecturally, with its multi-layers and alternative functionalities, AKM is also defined as a basis for sociocultural consensus; a valuable metropolitan tool that lives every hour of the day, with contemporary aesthetics and a high representation value, and at the same time, an inclusive and embracing urban magnet.

One of the most important modernist buildings of Istanbul, AKM will survive preserving its significant values through the creativity and richness of the original architecture while updating the requirements of its functions, as well as meeting the qualities of urban life of the new century.
The construction planned to start in 2019, The new Ataturk Cultural Center, will also serve as a case study on the architectural structures of the 60's, a base for academic discussions in setting the principles of their protection and preservation, as many of the countries in the world today retain much older buildings, while the 1960's buildings are being demolished.

Credits

 ISTANBUL
 TURKEY
 REPUBLIC OF TURKEY, MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND TOURISM
 09/2021
 95.596 mq
 TABANLIOGLU ARCHITECTS, MELKAN GURSEL & MURAT TABANLIOGLU
 Salih Yılgörür, Serdar Makinacı, Ahmet Çorapçıoğlu, Ali Çalışkan, Funda Tezel Aksoy, Zeynep Eker Yılgörür, Deniz İlhan, Enes Yücepur, Selin Dinçer, Duygu Kara, Esra Gültoplayan Durdubaşoğlu, Remzi Uslu, İpek Saygolı, İsmail Utkan Yönter, Hatice Çağıran, Müge Yalçın, Melis Muratoğlu, Erman Uçaroğlu, Salih Özkan Dursun, Fulya Ayşe Seviğ, Fatma Pelin Serin, Çiğdem Durmayaz, Cansu Yeni, Ali Rıza Saçan, Yetkin Göllü, Mert Aslan
 TABANLIOGLU ARCHITECTS

Curriculum

Headed by Murat Tabanlioglu and Melkan Gursel, the practice focuses on residential, commercial, mixed-use, public and cultural projects realised mainly in MENASA, CIS and Europe, and lately in the USA. Tabanlıoğlu Architects has a long family tradition and is the culmination of over 60 years’ architectural experience. Tabanlioğlu Architects believes that one of the big issues inherent in urban development is to create city spaces that are interactive, to allow citizens to truly mingle; that in order to make better cities; buildings should be multifunctional and take inspiration from both ceremonial and informal public spaces. With offices in Dubai, Doha, London and New York, the practice strives for new efficiencies in terms of global and environmental needs, incorporating new technologies with smart local solutions into their work.

http://www.tabanlioglu.com/pro...


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