Project . Sarem Limnological Research Center
Client . Eğirdir Fishery Research Institute
Area . 6.500 m² Site: Isparta / Turkey Year: 2017
Program . Laboratory, Museum, Office, Multi-Purpose Hall, Guesthouse, Restaurant
Project Team . Ali Sinan, Ezgi Keskin, Hasan Okan Çetin, , Mustafa Demir, Nehir Bera Biçer, Okan Mutlu Akpınar, Zeynep Damsarsan
‘’Every self-estrangement of man from himself and nature is manifested in the relationship he sets up between other men and himself and nature.’’ Karl Marx
This is a crash.
A crash between nature and man. A crash between the lake and the city. A crash between wind and concrete.
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The fact that SAREM, within its context, is a good candidate to observe mentioned relationship has left us in the middle of the clash. The adventure starting with a concern about the possibility of an architectural configuration conflicting with nature has brought about other arguments and even disagreements within ourselves. The project which has been created in the process forming us into kind of a schizophrenic identity has come into existence along with all the clashes we have experienced. It has endeavoured to embody the freedom, equality, and sincerity of nature, besides the captivity, hierarchy and seriousness of citizen. The outcome is not an experience of dilemma, instead a duality, an experience of simultaneous existence of both. MAIN DESIGN PRINCIPLES In a site situated between Lake Egirdir and Isparta-Konya Highway, the wind whispers the lake to the city, trees witness it in their place. New layer which will be integrated into the context, Limnological Research Center, constitutes the epicenter of mentioned clash because it is a complex, big mass with dense programs caused by the non-negligible necessities of the institution. However, this big mass is rather kind to the actual owners of the place. Site inputs, natural and built environment, affect the taken decisions at the very beginning of the design process. The location of trees within the boundary of site is specified and protected, it is preferred to settle in as distant as possible from coastal line. SAREM Limnological Research Center is a governmental building which has a diversity and density of programs within its body. It is around 6500 m2, a relatively big building in its context and it is composed of administrative units (offices, laboratories, administrative staff rooms), social facilities (museum, multipurpose hall, cafeteria), and guesthouse in the main layout. This big and complex mass is a building which is capable of meeting the needs of a diversity of usage schema simultaneously, actively working at all hours of the day and night and providing an opportunity to be included and leave for different user profiles at the same time. During mass articulation, the decision of rising up towards the built environment (existing campus buildings) and going down towards the natural environment (existing trees in groups) is taken. Administrative units are positioned at high part, which gives an opportunity to easy access to existing laboratories in the campus. Social facilities and guesthouse are positioned at low part. Multipurpose hall is a mechanism with its foyer and services, designed in a way to act as a sanctuary in case of an emergency and located at the center of the building with an angle with the administrative units part to create the final form of the mass. The main circulation line at the ground floor is located on the axis of southwest-northeast and provides access to both faces of the building. Spacious places providing the user with the chance of visual relations by changing floor heights along this line are designed. Similar visual relation configuration is present in the second floor between terrace, restaurant and offices. As a result, a governmental building layout which is breathing with a rich solid-void balance and providing a basis for accidental encounters between different user profiles is achieved. We have not let the technical procedure dominate over our design principles during design process despite all the difficulties caused by working in a geography where design process is fitted into standardized forms with no quality searched for. We have not abandon our principle of ‘persuasion based decision making’ although conflicts with the administration and other disciplines forced us to do so in terms of project timing. Therefore, efficient teamwork with both the administration and other disciplines has made us achieve an end result by protecting the initial main decisions. Another layer is integrated into the place. The wind crashes to concrete while it is carrying the lake to outside, regenerates itself and disperses around the city through the building by blending in with the sound of humanity. The building gets involved in the place.
The city flows over the lake, the lake flows over the city through this building.
