"Urban Transformation in Bagdat Street with Facade Stories"

Bahar Yayla, Nilay Ünsal Gülmez, Article Published in Konsept Projects, January 2017

Here, we wanted to take a look at whether the worldwide trends for façade design correspond to the ongoing urban transformation on the Street. Just like the transformation, the discussion progressed on a parcel basis. We need to focus on the “urban transformation” and primarily the relationship or lack of relationship between these new buildings with each other and the old ones, and how the atmosphere of the Street is transforming.

The façade is an important interface between the residential interior and the public exterior during the transformation. The interface should be open to dialogue with the people of the city and it needs to be handled with a more innovative and questioning design approach for a transformation that enriches the spirit of the street.

URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN BAĞDAT STREET WITH FAÇADE STORIES

Urban transformation was reduced to a parcel-based scale after the transformation projects of large slums by REITs and HDA. Bağdat Street and the buildings around it have also started to get their share from this. We will evaluate this transformation on the basis of the façades that will take a permanent place in our lives and will determine the texture of this region, and share our observations.

The need...

It is estimated that there are over 30,000 buildings in Kadıköy that won’t be able to withstand a big earthquake. These estimations are based on the buildings being 40-50 years old, the use of hand-mixed concrete, and their static calculations not being in compliance with the reinforced concrete regulations of 2007. Also, according to information from Kadıköy Municipality, the Street and its surrounding region’s ground are mostly solid.

The texture...

Some of the buildings in this area used to represent an exemplary modern residential architecture with their wide windows, delicate ironwork, ornamented balconies, and simple but well-designed façades. (Image-1) Since most old buildings on the street were turned into workplaces, their façades were changed over time with the changing needs. (Image-2)

Image-1, A modern architecture example of the time on Bağdat Street

Image-2, An example of a house turned into a workplace on Bağdat Street. We see the signboards that each workplace has placed and the changes in fenestrations. Also, the façade has been designed with such a character that it preserves its aesthetics despite all the interventions.

Bağdat Street has planned streets, tree shaded wide sidewalks, a unique atmosphere and is comfortable to walk with a baby carriage, where red lights and pedestrians are respected. Now partially a construction site, the street has turned into a region/neighborhood where we face yellow trucks that hardly maneuver around the streets, wondering if anything might fall on our vehicles when parking. We can also say that tree texture of the street and the overall environment has had its share from this transformation.

The large trees on the wide sidewalks make walking very enjoyable (Image-3). But the trees in the gardens of the block of flats are cut for the extending basement car parks for more parking space. These trees used to serve as a filter for sun with their green branches, providing visual privacy to nearby residences.

Image-3 The current tree texture

change... transformation…

As contractor profits get more involved in the ongoing transformation, owners’ houses are gradually shrinking. Another factor in this shrinking is the additional second fire escape stair in the blocks with increased height as required by fire regulations. Due to the lack of space, in some floor plans, fire escapes are done directly from the bedrooms. In reality, it is doubtful that the entrance of the fire escapes won’t be blocked and will be used actively.

This congestion prevents innovative/original planning. According to data from the Association of Real Estate Investment Companies, house sizes in Turkey have shrunk by about 22 m2 in the past 15 years. It seems that this shrinking will go on as renovations continue on the basis of parcels. Are household sizes falling at the same rate? Does the household structure have a transformation to support this? If so, how does this transformation contribute to the shaping of households? If not, what kind of adaptation strategies do users/households develop against this forced shrinking and how do they deal with it? All these questions need to be thought about thoroughly.

Architects’ jobs get more difficult as there is no master plan and the city is literally patched together and transformed by partial interventions. Because these works require both future predictions for the neighborhood and the time and skill to deal with possible constraints. It is clear that architects are not the only ones who are responsible for this transformation. Do the owners of demolished buildings talk to contractors and make demands on the appearance and aesthetics of new buildings while making their decisions about interior materials, or are they just interested in the size/square meter and the view? Considering the conditions in Turkey and Istanbul, the people who live there are well-educated individuals from the middle-upper class. Their inexperience on the subject and the lack of environmental culture, a general problem of Turkey, presents itself in this region as well. Here, we aim to deal with transformation on the basis of façades which we care about as an interface.

façades...

Architects and contractors who are used to designing and making 5-storey buildings on this street construct 10- or 12-storey buildings by putting 5-storey apartments on top of each other. Builders continue to work with the methods they are used to, and contractors can continue to use the façade materials they have always used. But 10-storey residents should be designed differently than 5-storey apartments. We have also come across original façades challenging these conditions.

An architect’s design talent can be seen from their façade. A façade that is located in an outdoor space or, in other words, that is like the skin/clothing of a building between a public space and an interior, affects our indoor climate, light, view, energy consumption, and our budget, forming an architectural and social communication with its environment and the street. For example, successfully applying expensive materials and difficult construction techniques can signify luxury, a massive solid façade can represent a gloomy building, a building with huge proportions can give the viewer a feeling of insignificance, and natural elements like water and nature at the entrance of the façade can echo a language that has respect for both the nature and the people.

Façades that have Changed with Urban Transformation...

The world is a small place. Today, we can reach anywhere and get instant news from all around the globe. Advanced building technologies spread all over the world and pave the way for new designs and applications. Based on this perspective, we chose 5 to 15-storey house façade examples/alternatives from various countries and wanted to evaluate them in comparison to the new applications on the Street. Indeed, examples are not limited to the ones we have selected here. The only limit is the designer’s imagination.

A-THE SHELL THAT TAKES FORM

One of the new trends is using the outer shells of buildings as both a semi-open space and as a sunshade (Figure-4). We encountered an example where the shell could not be expanded too much due to the narrowness of the parcel, consequently turning into French Balconies (Image-5).

Image-4, A building in Austria, 2014, Love Architecture

Image-5, Suadiye, Bağdat Street, Öncü Ave.

B-A FAÇADE WITH SLIDING PANELS

In temperate climates like in Turkey, sliding shade panels are used on façades to block sunlight and sometimes for privacy. These panels often cover the entire façade and determine its character (Image-6). We came across a similar façade in Agah Efendi Street, with sliding panels (Figure-7).

Image-6, A building in Spain, 2012, Lola Doménech, photos © Adrià Goula

Image-7, Çetin Emeç Blvd. (Coastal Road), EAA Architecture. According to the project team, this project consists of two housing blocks and aims to form a relationship with the ‘white boxes’ of the Modern Architectural Movement, which has an important place in the urban memory of Suadiye. The sliding/folding panels that completely cover the façade of the higher block are the main elements that give that abstract white box vibe.

C-RHYTHMIC FAÇADES

Contrary to the rhythmic and repetitive approach used abroad, where we see that the façade movement covers the surface like a fabric, unchanged (Image-8). On the Street, we see multiple rhythms (and sometimes the lack of it) being crowded on the same façade, despite the smallness/narrowness of the façades of tower buildings (Image-9). The dynamic façade has some good examples where the rhythm repeats itself by transforming (Image-10).

Image-8, Macallen Residential Building, Boston, 2007, DA Architecture Office, photos © John Horner

Image-9, Bağdat Street, Öncü Ave.

Image-10, Erenköy, Bağdat Street, Ömer Paşa Ave.

D-DESIGNING A FAÇADE WITH MULTIPLE PARTS

The façade can be divided into large or small pieces with different materials or forms, horizontally or vertically, making it more dynamic. This approach can strengthen the users’ belonging to their houses, giving the building an identity (Image-11). As seen in the given example, such efforts on the Street are still a lot more timid (Image-12).

Image-11, A building in Taiwan, 2009, photos © CCL Architecture and Partners

Image-12, Bağdat Street, Nihat Kızıltan Ave. The corner with French balconies stands apart from the part that extends at an angle.

E-FAÇADES WITH STAGGERED OPENINGS

Considering the parties who are concerned about losing space, façades with staggered openings were the ones that we most expect to come across. Yet, these also require variety and dynamism for organizing space (Image-13). The monotony of the façades makes us think that the stereotypical schemes for organizing space still continue (Image-14,15). Seen rather in much smaller parcels in Nişantaşı, Styrofoam and GRC decorations are also foreign to the nature of this street (Image-16).

Image-13, Bucharest Mora House, 2014, ADNBA Architecture Office

Image-14, Bağdat Street, Kitapçı Ave. Staggered windows are used on the side.

Image-15, Bağdat Street, Haldun Taner Ave. Staggered windows are used on the side.

Image 16. Bağdat Street, Çam Fıstığı Ave.

Image-17. On the upper floors with sea view, there are small cantilevers to increase the floor area.

Façades with Slight Cantilevers on Top Storeys…

Although we have similar examples of façades that expand on upper floors for the view, it is noteworthy that we could find no example that only extends from the upper floors by centering around the apartment’s size. In the examples we have found, it was the aesthetics of the building that was focused, not the size or who the apartment belonged to. The illustration summarizes the design approach that we see on Bağdat Street (Image-17).

Those That Are Not on The Street...

There are also some façade examples that are almost impossible to implement on this street due to regulations and the limited use of space.

Double-Wall/Raised Terraces...

Another trend in various parts of the world is the integration of terraces into the building by designing a second wall, a semi-shaded intermediate part on the perimeter (Image-18). Although there are often spacers used between terraces for privacy, they have significant advantages in terms of flexibility and climate control. Indeed, we should add that it sounds quite utopian for this street, where the most important dispute between homeowners and contractors is about size or lost space. We may yet come across such examples in cases where several parcels are used together, which we are beginning to encounter more and more.

Image-18. A building in London, 2015, Lynch Architecture

Image-19. Solaris, Singapore Science Center, 2010, Hamzah & Yeang. Here, natural ventilation and green floor gardens on each floor provide optimum use of sunlight and reduce energy consumption by 36%. Photos © T. R. Hamzah & Yeang Sdn.Bhd

Other examples of façades not yet encountered on the Street are green terraces where large terraces move towards the façade and floors move back and forth. Although, we do not expect to see these two examples in the near future due to maximum floor area usage.

Green Terraced Ecologic Buildings…

This subject is much broader than façade design. These buildings are optimally heated, cooled, and ventilated while consuming minimum energy and creating terraces for small trees in areas covered with soil (Image-19).

Since they are unlikely to be feasible (in terms of initial investment costs, maintenance costs, sales income, etc.), these buildings mostly remain as mental exercise, but might soon reach maturity and enter our lives. If we can integrate energy-conscious design into urban transformation, we can reduce the energy consumption of the entire city.

Freely Moving Cantilevers...

With existing earthquake regulations that discourages terraces and covered terraces being counted into equal area; this can constitute a compelling solution, particularly for the Street.