Project . Antalya Expo Tower Architectural Project Competition
Client . EXPO 2016 Antalya Ajansı
Area . 1.000 m² Site . Antalya Year . 2014 Award . Purchase Award
Program . Tower, Scenic Area, Sales Units, Recreation
Project Team . Ali Sinan, Beliz Bediz, Cem Dursun, Gökhan Yıldırım, Okan Mutlu Akpınar
“Bridge without a River
Façade without a Building
Hose irrigating plastic grass
Escalator going nowhere
Motorway heading where destroyed by motorways
There is an image on the television screen, which shows another television containing another television, which has another television inside…”
Eduardo Galeano, Upside Down
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In this new world, we were told “save, and do not pollute water” as our water basins were turned into power plants. As “earth”, as the mother of flowers, clean air and green, was turned into piles of concrete to produce more than demand and to produce more, we were told “love and protect the nature”. So we did what we were told, went on producing lots, and consuming even more as we produce. And the architect materialized what he was proposed with different strategies in line with his time. The power movement and understanding of design toward income in 70s became design and post-industrial design trend for people of 80s, and turned into the concepts of nature and sustainability which have been repeated and repeated since 90s. While the concept of sustainability taught us meeting today’s needs without jeopardizing meeting of the needs of the future generations (!), it made us believe that the usual production-consumption cycle is supposedly very ethical, very moral, environment-friendly and do-gooder when with sustainability prefix. Can that understanding, which constitutes the problem itself, produce a solution to the problem? REHEARSING PUTTING SUSTAINABLE WORLD ON ITS OWN FEET WITH CHILDREN, THE OWNERS OF THE FUTURE Human being and environment comprise an integral whole. While human being shapes the environment, changing environment and circumstances shape people too. Architecture alone is more of a contribution to change than a tool for change. With the image revealed, we aim to form a new area of use for waste material to trigger “individual green change” for a clean future rather than becoming abstract mediators of sustainability concept. To this end, we wanted to be a team with children as the decision-makers of the future, whose dreams are not yet clouded by the new world. In this project with the theme of child and flower, we, through imagination, aimed to put aside the suggestions forced upon us by the world and to dream about future, that is, the forbidden one. Our dream was to build a sand tower as yesterday’s children and today’s architects; a natural tower in harmony with the nature… There is no end to the dreams of children, and we are sure that they will reach the reality through their dreams they are to nestle. We will establish our tower just like the world we dream of, step by step using the recycling materials denied by today, with the imagination of a child crushing tin to turn into a ball. Recycling materials will be delivered by the children, and some of the tower will be completed by them. Thus we will instill to the future, together with children, the awareness that production commodities can be turned into objects to respond any need in the world, which underlies the very concept of design. ‘Our perspective in the Transformation Tower is to disintegrate materials and having eliminated their perception as waste, to use them as a building material and even an object of entertainment. The target is to bring a brand new habit to the world through children by using such commodities in the tower instead of further polluting the nature with materials perceived as waste. Thus the transformation tower will stand in front of you as a reality where everybody will see their own waste. People of this world where it is impossible to contribute to the environment and nature without facing the reality and individualizing the problems will face the reality of transformation toward natural, and its influence on future. Children, who are keys to turn our world into a green and clean world colorful like flowers, shall throw the bottles in their hands into the disintegration bottles around whenever they see the ‘Transformation Tower’, and will slightly open the door to a sustainable clean world. TECHNICAL REPORT: The tower is a simple design in equilibrium with the environment contemplated to consume minimum power in the course of and after the building stage. Therefore, the principal points of stress are; -The bearing system should not be complex, -The material used should be recyclable or made of used material which are considered for reuse -In addition to a minimal amount of power production to meet certain needs, least consumption of power as a fundamental necessity. Nevertheless, it is a well-known fact that one of the sectors where raw materials are consumed most is the construction sector. Consequently, most of the wastes in the world are excavation based. It is also requested that the concrete we recommend in the load-bearing system is produced as a recycling material. In this context, beam system on a simple geometric axis system has been recommended as load-bearing system without a concern for form. As to terrace floors, they are planned to be plane/beam system. With a system based on column/beam relationship, preclusion of excess consumption has been targeted in terms of time and economy. As mentioned, the building has been designed to stand using minimum energy rather than producing its own power and consuming high. The production of the power to meet obligatory needs of design shall be met using the solar panels to be placed on top of the tower. Nearly all of the components proposed for use in the tower consist of recycling materials perceived as “waste, disposal”. The tower avoids, as far as possible, indoors spaces requiring power. Therefore, enclosed areas are not recommended. Since the purpose is mostly to “watch”, saving power was advocated avoiding “climatization”, which was reflected on design. Natural solutions were preferred to mechanical solutions, and while climatization is ensured via the water component on the floor against temperature, an ordinary problem particularly in summer, a solution was proposed to the problem via trees within flowerpots on terrace floors. It was planned that blocking of sunlight by trees due to intensive air flow resulting from height would realize climatization naturally. Empty spaces were considered placing steel cages within boxes forming the tower. Consequently, it is planned to use plastic recyclable bottles at adequate amounts without deviating from the minimum consumption target at the area in between. In order to preclude any affect of weather conditions on the bottles at the external surfaces of the façade boxes, they are also planned to be covered with bioplastic made of recyclable biomass suitable for the purpose. Less greenhouse gas compared to normal plastics of oil origin is released in the course of production of bioplastic material. Therefore, bioplastic production is described as a sustainable activity. Furthermore, while illumination details will be solved with energy-efficient light components to be placed at certain parts of the steel cages within façade boxes, power-transformation relationship will be sustained through recycling materials used on the facade.
