The project, which is located in a complex comprising approximately 100
light steel detached residential buildings that were built during the 90s
in Tuzla, Tepeoren region, called for architects to study on the building’s
working scheme and interior design depending on the demands of the
user. Since the existing functions in the house were irregular and inadequate,
it was required to reconsider the entire planning of the building.
Primarily, the kitchen unit’s location on the ground floor has been
changed and articulated with a transparent mass in order to connect
it with the living room unit and position the dinner areas. Defining the
spaces in the building is made possible when the two-story high lounge
section of the existing living room unit’s horizontally expanding form,
which is connected to the dinner area, has been raised with a platform
and seperated by a fireplace. In order to visually connect the lounge section
with the sofa area, which is unveiled by the new room partitions on
the top floor, a mezzanine is created at the gallery and the sofa area is positioned
on this spot. In this way, natural light is directed to the common
spaces on the top floor, thus strengthening the top-bottom relationship.
The natural light problem arose from the enclosed veranda in front of the
living room unit was resolved by skylights positioned at the intersection
of the veranda and the living room. One part of the veranda is designed
as a retractable system that is connected with the living room while the other part is connected to the garden in a fully open layout. This open
section of the veranda is equipped with a barbecue.
The architectural studies initiated from the building’s existing condition
led architects to adopt radical decisions that are predominantly
function-oriented, which culminated in structural changes.
Subsequent to this process, it was aimed for creating the character
of the space through the reflections of these changes derived from
the adopted structural decisions, rather than products that would be
articulated on top of it. Therefore, material selections and their coherence
in the interior space have been carried out with the aim of
prioritizing this decision.
Regarding the use of natural stones in the project, the architects
made the following remarks:
“The ubiquitous, non-depreciable and user-integrated nature of
natural stones, stood out as important criteria for the material selection
of our project. Along with these criteria, which are also important
in terms of defining in some ways our endeavor to create timeless
spaces, we gave priority in our selections to soft colors, notably
white. For a white natural stone, we preferred ‘Calataca’ from Italy’s
Carrara region, which has been used at the fireplace and in bathroom
designs as a material that can harmonize with other colors in
the space and that makes its naturality felt thanks to its dense and
thick grey veins on white backdrop. In addition to this, with its thin
white veins on a black plate, the ‘Cora Black’ stone, which is quarried
from Konya and vicinity, has been used at bathroom counters,
furnishings and walls. Lastly, our preference for a grey stone has
been ‘Pietra Natuca’, a stone quarried from Isparta that is used for
the floors of spaces that are located in wide openings such as the
entrance, veranda and kitchen, which creates a contrast with the
white color and its tones that are predominantly used in the project
by prioritizing user comfort with its homogenous texture…”
CREDITS
Project Location: Tuzla, İstanbul
Project Office: theCATwork
Architects: Buşra Kocak and Ufuk Polat
Design Team: theCATwork and Rhizome Architects
Project Year: 2017 – 2018
Construction Year: 2017 – 2018
Area: 300 sqm
Photographs: Alp EREN (Altkat Photography)
