The competition, launched for seven designated regions along the Golden Horn (Haliç) shores, which aims to create attraction points enriched with cultural, artistic, recreational, and tourism activities, offering high-quality recreation experiences for users.

The goal was to transform Golden Horn shores and their interaction zones into sustainable, healthy green spaces that contribute to İstanbul’s green spaces and are integrated with blue-green infrastructure systems. The urban design vision prioritised the enrichment of public spaces within the city through cultural, artistic, recreational, and tourism-related activities, ensuring that they provide high-quality experiences for contemporary urban dwellers while strengthening the connection between İstanbul’s residents—both local and international—and the shoreline.

FREA participated in the competition with team members of Emre Şavural, Fatih Yavuz, Pelin Yoncacı Arslan, Evrim Ecem Saçmalı, Murat Z. Memlük, Ebru Dehmen Memioğlu, Sevgi Çalı, Kıvanç Tunçkale, Faruk Sarıhan, İsa Eren Akbıyık, and Mehmet Nazım Özer. In the ‘Der-Zemin’ project, the aim was to redefine the sense of belonging to the shoreline, offered by Golden Horn’s natural character, through renewed or improved user scenarios. The primary goal was to ensure pedestrian continuity while strengthening the historical and cultural identity of the phase 1 project area.

The process focuses on Eminönü, where lost historic city gates were reinterpreted, creating a ‘Der-zemin’, a space that welcomes and shelters flow of pedestrians on the move, gathering and redistributing their movement under its canopy. Approaching the square as a Mobility/Meeting Hub and adopting the concept of mix-mobility, speed regulations were implemented to allow pedestrian, vehicle, tram, and bicycle movements to co-exist within a common public ground.