GDKP / Istanbul / Turkey

The Gedikpaşa project is a contemporary solution to one of the oldest building typologies of the East - the bazaar. The bazaar historically has been an essential component of Istanbul urbanism, life and culture. This proposal focused on a site in the Gedikpaşa district of Istanbul seeks to reinvent the bazaar, studying its core principals and the way in which fundamental architectural forms may be combined and multiplied in new ways. Conceptually, GAD’s Gedikpaşa proposal begins with a simple structural grid that is distorted and adapted to the parameters of this particular site. Historic buildings are preserved, and available land is developed as sellable retail space. The result is a system, or componential structure, that can be stacked and grown as permitted by the parameters of the site. The intention is that this system, as reflected in the iteration of one particular scenario in Gedikpaşa, could be adapted and multiplied in a number of different locations in the city as a component system for a bazaar for the 21st century. Importantly this system would provide a modular way to redevelop urban territories with an eye to flexibility and optimization. This prospect for renewal that has been an important issue in Istanbul’s urban regeneration projects over the last decade is in this project addressed by this design experimentation in the bazaar typology by GAD.

 

The arch, one of the oldest forms in architecture and construction, serves as the fundamental element in this design. The archi is combined and multiplied to arrive at an unpredictable complex spatial organization. Green terraces and semi-open spaces fill the void between stacked modules creating variations in solid and void. Wooden panels and colorful enclosures begin to define space and the distinction between inside and outside is blurred. The result is something familiar as a bazaar yet a new invention for a historic problem for Istanbul and for this age-old typology now adapted into contemporary times. GAD’s design strategy has been to embrace the possibilities of the bazaar through iterative strategies in design and construction. At the core of these strategies are complex yet functional possibilities for the fluctuating demands of urbanism in the Eastern cities such as Istanbul. In this way, the design for the bazaar in Gedikpaşa is essential yet ironically ephemeral at the same time. GAD’s design is infused with the deep rational possibilities of an essential element of architecture, the arch, adapted into this flexible idea for a future forward typology for the bazaar.