Common ground. Market in Kumkapi, Istanbul

Built on many layers of the past, Istanbul is currently being challenged by fast urbanization, transforming it into an ever growing concrete city. The city is developing with different pace at different space though; leaving neighbourhoods behind and disconnected from the increasing welfare of the nation. At times, lack of funding, change of inhabitant structure and loss of traditional income sources initiate a downward spiral in these areas, culminating in ever worsening conditions. Kumkapi, a historical neighbourhood of greek and armenian Fisherman in Istanbul, suffers from such decay. Following the eviction of the native population, Kumkapi is majorly inhabited by different migrant groups now. The idea competition of the architecture platform ctrl-space invites to design a Community Market as step to reinforce the community and revaluate the neighbourhood. As the current situation results from various influencing factors on various scales, we propose to answer it with a set of different strategies. We decided to work in parallel on the scale of the city and the neighbourhood to reintegrate Kumkapi into its district and root the architectural design in its neighbourhood. Following a strategic suggestion of Gehl Architects, we enforce the link between the sea and the city center through the market, making Kumkapi a point of passage for the residents of Istanbul. Utilising vacant tissues in the direct vicinity of the market, we aim at establishing a network of interconnected courtyards which increases liveability and variation. Analyzing different social groups which arrived in Kumkapi in several waves of migration, helped to define target groups to centre social strategies on. In order to ensure positive long term outcomes, user groups and managers of spaces were assigned responsible for specific spaces in the neighbourhood.We hope thereby the positive impact of ‘handmade urbanism’ can be carried into the neighbourhood and safe, attractive and accessible spaces for the community are created. Special emphasis in the choice of functions was given on women as traditionally underprivileged group. This will facilitate the mutual knowledge of the woman of Kumkapi, their life chances and help to decrease scepticism among different ethnicities. In the dense fabric of Kumkapi, the scarcest urban resource is public space. This imposed the idea to create a market which hosts the required functions and at the same time remains public space. Folding the floor through a ramp continuously up, was the initial gesture to increase the accessible space for all residents. The urge to be contextual determined us to complete the city block at which’s corner the site is located. The thereby defined morphology was modified to facilitate the flow of people in and out of the complex. Assigning functions and user to the elements of the market rose questions of construction type and energy efficient use of the complex. Solutions, both structural and energetic were to be simple and feasible. Standards and user habits in central Europe, for which most energy efficient building solutions are developed, do not necessarily comply with Turkish customs and use. We searched for alternative energetic solutions in the set up of the volumes, the design of the building envelop, its runtime and the choice to serving HVAC system. Subsequently, two types of building layout were developed and assigned to the functions according to their specific climate requirements. Thereby the expected energy consumption for the Kumkapi Community Market can be maintained reasonably low without importing sophisticated energetic solutions to users unaware of global climatic change. Common Ground is a project developed along the borderline between old and now, east and west, pragmatism and architectural concept. It is a project of compromises and in suspense.