Dogus Holding Headquarters
Dogus Holding Headquarters is the proposed renovation of an existing reinforced concrete building in Istanbul, Ayazaga Cendere. The scope of the proposal is exclusive of structural intervention and the revision of external mass, however the examination of program relationships, design of interior spaces and retention of the existing immediate ground relationship is included.
The main concept that has determined a direction for this project has been the emphasis on an open plan office system that would encourage a transitional functionality and that social interaction could be instigated by the fluidity of spaces. The fact that this building is far from the facilities of the city centre and will remain for a while has caused such functions to be mainly concentrated inside.
This approach has proceeded to a reconsidering of the 2 buildings, a two storey building (B) and an adjacent building of five storeys (A) as one single building. This initial scheme revision has developed into the integration of the former and the first 2 storeys of the latter, in terms of programmatic relationships. This horizontal integration of the two previously detached vertical forms has allowed for the horizontal permeability and circulation. This has been achieved by the connection of two buildings that sit on two different ground levels via interior streets formed with ramps.
Refunctioned as administrative headquarters, the facade that faces the Maslak Ayazağa Street has been pulled back at the intersection of blocks A and B in order to form the main entrance. The staff entrance has been provided from the south side of the building where the parking lots and service areas are located.
The B block of the building has been designed as an enclosed recreation area and a floor slab has been removed in order to increase the height. Programs like cafe, library, resting, short meetings, dining hall and conference room have been assigned in this volume. This space is an articulation reached from the main entrance and is where interior streets that connect to block A also intersect. Spaces based on wide perspectives and kinetic principals have been created to define functional interior spaces on different levels. Temporariness and fluidity are taken into consideration.
In this space in which an interior garden has also found place, chromatic decisions for the high ceilings and metal surfaces have been kept at a dark palette. This reinforces a feeling of relative darkness and the lighting concept that is defined by this. The red colored wood covered distorted mass located in block B evokes a separate tectonic. The visual access from different parts of the building to this large volume of vivid colour creates a spatial orientation due to shared surfaces in corridors, restaurant and streets.
A landscape is defined by the edge of the building that sits against a rocky slope on the south-west side. This quiet area opens to a terrace in block B, around which the medical room, library and seminar room are designed.
The administration entry is from northwest side of block A and the entrance lobby connects to offices and the vertical circulation. Offices are partitioned in a central core typology with open plan/ enclosed combined system. The side of offices adjacent to busy traffic was assigned a detail where the facade is pulled in as an internal layer and covered with external panels.
Roof space of block B is designed as a roof garden and connected to the office floors and common spaces of block B.
The surrounding walls and metal balustrades, external equipment, furniture pieces excluding the working units in offices, doors, interior building components such as ceilings and wall panels have been designed and detailed.
