“WE CARE TO USE NATURAL STONE IN OUR ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN DESIGN PROJECTS”
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Founded in 2002 in Ankara by Ali Özer and Ahmet Mucip Ürger, Özer \ Ürger has carried out more than a hundred projects for the private and public sectors in the fields of education, accommodation, transportation, sports, health, housing, mixed use, landscape and urban planning. As an architecture and urban design office that won many awards in national competitions, Özer \ Ürger Architecture, which opened its branch in Istanbul in 2010, aims to include the individual in urban life and enjoy this life by designing the relationship between the built environment and people in its projects. We talked to Architect Ali Özer and Architect Ahmet Mucip Ürger about their design approaches, current projects and their thoughts on the use of natural stone.
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How was Özer \ Ürger Architecture founded? Could you tell us about your understanding of architectural design and principles?
We started working together in the summer of 2001, right after graduation. When everything went well, we officially established the office in Ankara in 2005 and opened the Istanbul office in 2010. We are a design-oriented office that designs mostly public buildings and public spaces. The potentials that we identify and try to reveal or strengthen in each project and therefore our approaches may be different. However, our main goal is to design different public spaces by communicating the spaces we design with their surroundings, and to increase the communication and contact of people with the space and with each other. We try to support the user to have authentic experiences with other users in the space. Material trials and spatial efficiency are also topics we enjoy dealing with.
Today, the importance and value of architecture has changed a lot. What do you think architecture is? How should it be?
Architecture is a discipline that seeks the spatial counterparts of sociological, cultural and economic changes in the world in the past and today, and therefore has transformative power. With this aspect, it is one of the basic disciplines that have a say in reading and making sense of the important cultural breaking points in the world. Therefore, his social perception becomes stronger in proportion to the strength of his response in moments of breaking. However, recently, with the transformation of access to information, architectural knowledge has become somewhat worthless, like all disciplines and the knowledge they contain. However, due to the definition I mentioned at the beginning, architecture will always be at the center of social changes and will be one of the main actors of the cultural and social field, whether it is too strong or battered. In this context, architecture should constantly be fed from the disciplines and the world with which it interacts on its own knowledge, understand and use its knowledge and not lose its dynamism.
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What are the main criteria that affect your choice of building materials? Are there any building materials that you particularly prefer?
In general, we try to prefer materials and techniques that will minimize workmanship errors in large structures. However, in general, materials such as natural stone, brick, concrete and wood are our first choice.
How do the design processes of the projects take place in your office? How does the process work for the investor and architect while creating the concept?
Obviously, this situation is shaped according to the approach of the investor and whether there is time pressure or not. It is a situation we want and prefer that the investor wants to be in the process. Before the concept stage, we organize meetings where the list of needs and the general qualities of the place are discussed together. Based on the results of these meetings, we develop ideas in the office. We produce diagrams of all approaches as possible. We organize another meeting where we share the best of these schemes with the employer and get their opinions. We evaluate the results and complete the concept project.
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Which phase of the project did you enjoy the most?
All stages are enjoyable for us. The concept stage is a painful process. Looking for the best under time pressure. Being able to manage this turbulent process and finally achieving results that will make both us and the employer happy is the most enjoyable phase.
What types of works are included in your project portfolio?
Türk Telekom R&D Building in METU Technopolis is our first important building. We also won first place in the invited masterplan competition for the same area. We hope it will be implemented. In addition, the Konyaaltı Beach Urban Design Project, which we designed as the first in the national competition, is one of the largest urban design projects implemented in Turkey. We have projects implemented at different scales such as Kocaeli Congress Center, İstiklal Street / İstiklal is Yours, the Libyan Embassy in Ankara, Atakent – Kocasinan – Bağcılar dormitories, large-scale housing projects. We are also looking forward to seeing the results of the restoration project of the six rows of shops in the Süleymaniye Mosque, which is about to open.
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Is there a place or building design that you think you should definitely do in your professional life?
We are currently working on a mosque. For us, it is the most difficult place to design. However, this is a structure that we always want to try because of its difficulties. Our employer gave us the necessary freedom. We make a design where we focus on the experience and the action itself. We hope the results will be good too.
How important is natural stone material to you?
Each natural stone has its own unique texture and color. Each one gets old in a different way. Its mistakes give character to the material. When you add durability and reusability on top of these wonderful features, the importance of natural stone for us architects becomes more understandable. We attach great importance to the use of natural stone in both our architectural and urban design projects. We try to use the potentials of natural stone to the fullest by trying different surface treatments and designing different array patterns.
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In which functions do you usually evaluate natural stone in your projects?
We mostly use natural stone as flooring material in urban design projects. However, we also make furniture and wall coverings from stones with different surface treatments.
Which natural stone types do you prefer to use in your projects? Why?
Generally, we search for local stones and try to use those materials in works that do not have a supply problem. However, in general, granite and basalt are the ones we use the most. We also use a lot of stones that attract attention with their colors such as porphyry and diabase. The most preferred stone for wall coverings is travertine.
