Expanded modernization
Atatürk Cultural Centre in Istanbul by Tabanlıoğlu Architects
© Emre Dörter
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
For the third time after 1969 and 1977, the Atatürk Cultural Centre has been inaugurated on Istanbul’s Taksim Square, but in an expanded form strongly reminiscent of the original architecture.
© Emre Dörter
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
The history of the complex goes back to the 1960s: From 1966 to 1969, the cultural centre – then only an opera house – was first created according to designs prepared by Hayati Tabanlıoğlu. Just one year later, the structure burnt down and was extensively restored in a project that lasted until 1977. At the beginning of the 21st century, discussion arose about a modernization or possible rebuild. In 2013, the cultural complex took on symbolic meaning in the Gezi Park protests, stood empty for many years and was finally demolished.
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
Now, under the directorship of Hayati’s son Murat Tabanlıoğlu, the building has been resurrected, though in a significantly enlarged form as an L-shaped complex that occupies most of a city block on the east side of Taksim Square. Its dominant main building, which stands directly on the square, is again home to the opera house, whose cubature and glass façade, which features ladder-like aluminum sunshades, to a great extent correspond to those of the preceding building.
© Emre Dörter
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
A few technical innovations appear in the details, such as in the combined steel-and-glass fins on the interior façade, which reinforce the large glazed surface. In the lobby behind this area, the red sphere shell of the opera hall is covered with nearly 15 000 profiled ceramic tiles. These tiles are the work of Italian ceramicist Alexandra Khuen-Belasi; they represent a reinterpretation of the original wall cladding in the lobby. The wooden balustrades on the upper-level galleries, as well as the delicate winding stairway with its central “column of light”, also borrow extensively from the original building.
© Emre Dörter
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
In contrast, the shape of the hall, which can seat 2200 spectators, is new. While it originally featured three rows of straight rows of seats with boxes to each side, the architects of the new design went with a horseshoe shape. The wall claddings and flooring are of wood, meaning that the seats alone function as sound absorbers. The central chandelier is a real eye-catcher in the hall: its individual luminaires can be completely retracted into the suspended ceiling by means of pulleys.
© Emre Dörter
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
The north side of the opera house is home to the L-shaped, covered passageway, where the remaining functions of the building are lined up. Right on Taksim Square the striking, floating cube of an art gallery welcomes visitors. Set deeper inside the block, there are an 800-seat theatre, a library, a multipurpose space, a cinema and a children’s art centre as well as shops, cafés and restaurants. Their clear, cubic shapes, vertical window slits and shared material palette of glass, dark-coloured metal and greige travertine connect them with the reconstructed opera house as a unified ensemble.
Architecture: Tabanlıoğlu Architects
Client: Republik Türkei, Ministerium für Kultur und Tourismus
Location: Gümüşsuyu, Tak-ı Zafer Cd., 34437 Beyoğlu/İstanbul (TR)
Structural engineering: Balkar
Landscape architecture: DS
HVAC planning: Eko
Acoustics: Ada & Desmus
Lighting design: Dinnebier & Zeve
Facade planning: Werner Sobek
Gross floor area: 95 000 m²
Gallery
These articles might also interest you
-
Theatre for the entire city
Nouvelle Comédie de Genève by Fres Architectes
With more than 100 m of glass facade, the new Geneva Playhouse by Fres Architectes opens up to the city. A perfect prerequisite for the light show, with which the new building completely changes its appearance between day and night.
-
A plug-in city for culture
Taipei Performing Arts Centre by OMA and Kris Yao | Artech
Taipei’s new centre for performing arts combines three very different auditoria, some of which can be combined with each other, into a flexible whole.
-
Extravagant multi-purpose complex
Kaohsiung Pop Music Center in Taiwan
The Pop Music Center in Kaohsiung, a port city in southern Taiwan, is not only in architectural terms an unusual project, the 100-million-euro complex being the result of a competition won by a team of up-and-coming Spanish architects in 2012.