The national architectural design competition organised by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality for a new service building to replace the existing Kadıköy Municipality building—constructed in 1992 and now at the end of its service life—has concluded. The competition sought a design that would meet the evolving and growing needs of Kadıköy and comply with current requirements in the face of the anticipated major İstanbul earthquake. FREA Architecture’s proposal for the competition received a Purchase Prize.

Kadıköy Municipality Service Building design is a contemporary public building proposal that leaves the ground surface as free as possible and offers an open living space to urbanites within the dense and congested urban texture of İstanbul. It is not only a new municipal building, but also a part of the city. On the ground level, the programme units that should be in direct contact with the public are subdivided into five masses of different sizes. These quadrangular blocks sit in areas defined by the existing spaces created by the demolition of the existing building. The fragmented layout makes the site permeable and encourages public circulation, while preserving the existing trees. The architectural approach is not only functional but also environmentally sensitive.

The competition jury expressed the following remarks about the project: “Although it is positive that the ground floor plan is shaped according to pedestrian traffic and the upper floors are handled according to municipal functions with a different geometry, it is questioned that the mass functions on the ground floor are mainly devoted to the intensive office programme. The cancellation of the road around the plot was criticised. The fact that seismic isolators are proposed is evaluated positively. However, it is thought that the positioning of the isolators on the mezzanine floor will cause the vertical circulation (lift) to be discontinuous. It was criticised that the necessity of resolving the circulation would impact the space decisions. Since the mass composition of the building was evaluated as positive and original, the project was deemed worthy of the purchase prize.”