The distance established from the dense urban fabric is reinforced with a volumetric wall. Freed from security concerns, workspaces open freely to inner gardens and courtyards, creating an open architectural design that prioritizes daylight and fresh air.
With the campus master plan, to be further strengthened with construction of future phases, the volumetric wall serves as a strong element that connects internal galleries, establishing visual and social interaction between floors.
The main facade of the building towards the urban fabric is defined by a basalt-clad wall. With its towering mass and material-colour choices, the wall reinforces the sense of separation, completing the expression of a space with high-security giving no public access.
A high contrast is created on the dark basalt facade with white precast grilles. The grilles with high level of plasticity and three-dimensionality, strongly add to establish the architectonic expression of the building.
TRANSFORMATION FROM FACTORY SPACE TO OFFICES
Havelsan was established in early 1980s to meet needs of the Turkish Armed Forces. Over the years, due to changing needs and content of the service, the factory building whose main purpose was production, gradually transformed into working spaces that lacked proper ventilation and reception of daylight. In the process of transformation of the city, the campus previously at the periphery of the city, remained in the middle of Mustafa Kemal Mahallesi, now a sub-centre of the city along the Eskişehir Road, in a dense district between the two main arteries in east-west direction of the city.
PROCESS MANAGEMENT AND THE MASTER PLAN
In line with changing needs of Havelsan, master plan studies were carried out as a first step. In the light of all the data regarding the future of the company, 5 different master plan studies were developed. Due to physical and economic constraints, the feasibilty of constructing the long-term campus was decided on a two-phase process. Once the overall design was delivered, two phases were determined based on overall budget and the future of upcoming operations. The existing campus, where 1,000 employees and as many visitors come and go every day, had to continue to function, and the construction had to not affect this.
The main input as requirement for the design of Havelsan Technology Campus was the need for new spaces and how they would be diversified in functions. Meetings were held with representatives from each of Havelsan’s departments for the building programme and operations. Answers to fundamental questions such as the general purpose, security protocols, existing capacities, the organisation’s twenty-year vision, type and identity of the building required, relationships to be established with other technology campuses and the city, and the principles for defining construction phases, were main inputs to build up the design process.
PHASE: 1+2+3
The first phase included workspaces to meet Havelsan’s medium-term needs, the second phase as workspaces and social spaces (with programmes such as nursery, gym, swimming pool, hobby rooms, etc.) to meet long-term needs, and the third phase included workspaces for sister companies in the business-ecosystem working in conjunction with Havelsan. When the master plan studies were initiated, the campus population was approximately 1000 people, and it was aimed to reach the targeted population of 2000 people of the first stage in approximately 15 years. Due to rapid growth, this target was exceeded in 5 years, and the start for other phases became a necessity.
NATURAL CLIMATIZATION, DAYLIGHT, GREEN OASIS
The master plan finalized, the architectural language and internal organization of the building was delineated. One of the major challenges was the security protocols (e.g., Tempest) due to the site’s location at city centre. The issue was resolved by positioning workspaces to face the campus and service units along the perimeter, facing the dense urban building fabric. The green world to which functions of the building comfortably opened to with transparent facades of the first stage buildings without security measures, will transform into a green inner courtyard when all stages will be completed. The key principle was that workspaces should have natural ventilation and receive daylight. As there are offices of varying sizes, say in spaces with a capacity of 120 people, the depth of the space would not suffice natural light penetrate these spaces, so blocks were equipped with inner courtyards to allow light and air to flow in each.
LAYOUT
Havelsan is a state-run company organization with a highly dynamic work structure. The spatial solution to this could only be achieved through a flexible design. Organizing the entire building with a unit module to serve different functions is a design strategy developed in response. From this module, spaces such as open offices, executive rooms, meeting rooms, laboratories, and even a conference hall are created when necessary. In the open offices, executive rooms are positioned on edges to ensure acoustic isolation. Offices with open plan between two executive rooms directly open to the inner courtyard. Laboratories which are critical spaces for innovative technologies are also placed in a central location on building’s ground floor to adapt for modifications in the future.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
Social interaction stimulates creativity: To enhance interaction, shared spaces called “stations” are designed within each open office, and common circulation areas have also been considered in this perspective. Thus, spatial counterparts of participatory and interactive approach to think and produce as prioritized in today’s world, have found their place in the building. The volumetric wall has been also acting as one of the key spaces for this social interaction. Skylights contribute to keeping this space always well-lit during the day, while galleries connected to it, steel staircases rising from within, and glass railings do facilitate visual continuity and social interaction, as well as help daylight penetrate into the depths of these spaces.
IN PURSUIT OF THE BASALT STONE
The selection of basalt stone, which plays a determining role in the overall impact of the building, was finalized after the design team and representatives from the Havelsan Construction Group and contractors visited 10 different quarries and manufacturing facilities around Kayseri and Diyarbakır. Consultations and evaluations on the character of the stone, and the capacities of quarries to extract and and process, decided for the stone to be used in the building.
