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Meydan Shopping Centre in Istanbul
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Istanbul is one of the largest cities in the world and continues to grow. The district of Ümraniye, where the present shopping centre is situated, is a clear example of this development. In fewer than 60 years, it has grown to a thousand times its former village size and has now been absorbed by the expanding metropolis. What was missing, however, was an urban centre. In 2005, a German wholesale and retail trading group already established in Turkey invited five international architectural practices to take part in a workshop and develop a prototype for a “shopping square”. The urban planning proposals by Foreign Office Architects were unanimously placed first. Their concept was based on the word “meydan”, which means a market or meeting place. Laid out around a central piazza with fountains are shops, cafes, a restaurant and a cinema. Broadly cantilevered roofs provide protection against the sun, shading the glazed shopfronts that line the square. An ample, gently rising pedestrian route links the square – which can also be used for sporting events and festivities – to the nearby housing district. Red brick pavings and sloping areas generate a calm atmosphere and turn the need to shop into a pleasant stroll.