Gad Architecture & Gokhan Avcioglu - GAD ARCHITECTURE
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Gad Architecture & Gokhan Avcioglu

Office&Business  /  Completed
Gad Architecture & Gokhan Avcioglu
Gokhan Avicoglu of GAD was interested by the context of an office building near a green-energy producing power plant in a rural location. Working with the staff of ENKA, GAD developed a design which is functional and contemporary yet provides healthy working enviroment emphasizing natural light and a exterior garden landscape. The design was developed also for evaluating the existing site conditions, so steel structure, profilit façade and glass cladding was chosen to constitute the building quickly on the site and not to create a massive construction on the site. ENKA put out a tender for the project where Gokhan Avcioglu & GAD design was selected. After the design was completed at the end of 2016 due to the building steel construction methodology was completed fairly quickly in 2017.
Architecture for modern infrastructural systems such as transportation, energy or public utilities has consistently employed industrial materials to achieve material and structural continuity with the technical infrastructure they serve. In this administrative building for a natural gas power station for the ENKA company in the Adapazari region of western Turkey, a steel and glass architecture was applied wıth detailed attention to the rural context and operational needs of its engineering staff. The design for the ENKA Station administrative building responds to the technical requirements for managing the power station while also providing an exemplary office environment in a rural location. This is achieved through a structural aesthetic that provides ecological efficiencies and an optimal office environment for the staff. This architecture, a robust application of a building system in light steel and glass, generates a contemporary interior enviroment with both aesthetic and enviormental priorites. Sunlight, space and natural elements are balanced in the interior creating a postivie workplace but also importantly generating savings on electric energy, an important feature in a building for energy management.
This orientation of an architecture that priorities workplace well being and environmental concerns is derived from a thoroughly modernist steel and glass structures and then optimised for the natural topography of the site and interior plan. The two-storey building consists of a series of staggered glass boxes organised inside the dramatically visible steel structure. These glass boxes are inserted into the exposed structure of arches, braces and trusses around a series of courtyards. 3 different types of glass, opaque and transparent tempered glass and translucent channel glass are used to mediate sunlight based on functions. Located in a active seismic area the resulting structure also had to accommodate strict building regulations. The architecture for ENKA Station in this way realises a performative, steel architecture yet in a original and elegant way not commonly found in buildings for infrastructure. The rural location and technical needs are also subtly balanced to give symbolic weight to an architecture where perforamace on many levels is achieved.The main materials consisted of Profilit channel glass and transparent/semitransparent glass cladding within a exposed steel structure to provide maximum connection to the surroundings and provide sunlight. The interior was supported by consideration for heat insulation standards. Also these materials were employed as they work well with employed steel structure to produce a contemporary effect. The glass façade allows for natural light in the interior and also exposes interior making it visible from outside. The steel structure was left uncovered in the interior and it can also be seen from outside. Steel structure was quite convenient for having the construction finished quickly, and properly as well as being an expertise area of the ENKA construction company, the project client.

GAD’s design wanted to created a distributed set of volumes instead of a single monumental building. Instead, Gokhan Avciodglu & GAD designed a variety of glass box as primary volumes with courtyards organised with the landscape and vegetation. The two storey office building spreads around the site, it constitutes terraces and courtyards as a strong structural presence in front of the power station. The terrace spaces are also defined with steel construction elements on the upper roof level. Beside transparent/semi-transparent glass façade these terraces create links between the building itself and landscape in this remote rural site next to a village and lake.
This project is important as one of the only architecturally significant buildings for energy infrastructure in the country of Turkey and regionally. With the world’s energy needs quickly transforming the technical and power grid infrastructure for these systems becomes a key component of an efficient use of energy. The management of these resources by technically advanced staff in the isolated locations where these energy infrastructure facilities are set is an important reality that needs to be addressed by the architecture. This means creating modern architecture that is energy efficient but also takes into account the advanced needs of the technical staff.

This natural gas to electricity power station provides state-of-the art technical and management infrastructure in the remote Adapazari region of western Turkey. The building designed by GAD is important as it provides both modern workplace emphasising wellbeing for the administrative staff with natural light, greenery and landscaping. The building is also energy efficient using natural sunlight while being aesthetically aligned with contemporary tastes. Importantly this architecture achieves these values in a location otherwise devoid of architecture at high design and technical standards.

Credits

 sakarya
 Türkiye
 enka
 12/2017
 4200 mq
 GAD&GOKHAN AVCIOGLU
 emir drahsan, bahar ercanoglu, yonca urun, eti kastoryano, onur ozdemir, eda demirel
 soner gursoy

Curriculum

Principal and founder of GAD - Global Architectural Development, Gokhan Avcioglu and his design team have been producing dynamic, innovative concepts for projects ranging from small private homes to extensive Urban Master Plans in Turkey around the world for over twenty-five years.
Led by Mr. Avcioglu, the dedicated International creative staff of GAD takes an unconventional approach to creating projects that push the boundaries of architectural thinking. Supported by his GAD teams, Mr. Avcioglu has won numerous awards, including the 1997 Turkish Architecture Prize, a Bronze Medal in Miami Bienal in 2003, German Iconic Awards in 2014, Chicago Athenaeum Green Good Design Award in 2015, 2014 and 2012,
MIPIM AR Future Awards in 2017, 2013 and 2012, and. The American Architecture Prize in 2017, WAFX Smart City Prize in2017 and AR Future Projects Awards, Jeu d’Esprit Prize in 2017. A number of his projects have been nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.


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