While the ‘Oasis’ maintains strong connections with the city, remaining visible and accessible, it also promises a sheltered, tranquil environment with spaces that can be calm and still when needed.
CLAIMS OF LOCATION
Mustafa Kemal Mahallesi, located on the western development axis of Ankara, has become a central business and living area, and a centre of attraction with rapid urban development it has experienced in recent years. With access to city centre via metro line, the area has become much more dynamic with new high-density mixed-use environments added to low-density texture that was formed over the years. Ministries and public buildings in immediate vicinity are effective in increasing urban mobility during working hours. In this respect, the ‘Oasis’ Building Complex located in the centre of the region promotes a space that establishes strong relations with its surroundings with permeable perimeters.
URBAN PERMEABILITY
Located between the main traffic artery Eskişehir Yolu (the İnönü Boulevard), which includes the metro line, and the building complex, the Tepe Prime Life Centre, which is changing the face of the region, is a connecting built environment with permeable ground floor pedestrian zone. This permeable layout is characterised by open spaces and pedestrian circulation. However, as complementary spaces that provide this continuity are introduced in today’s environment, the urban dynamism and pedestrian movement creates has a short-term experience trapped within itself. The ‘Oasis’ Building Complex benefits from this potential as a unique opportunity.
RAPIDLY TRANSFORMING ENVIRONMENT
Barış Sitesi, a low-rise residential area surrounding the site, the Mahal Ankara a high-rise dense office block, BTK and the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, where daily administrative activities are intense, and projects areas in planning process to the north and west, as well as the new boulevards to be opened on the periphery are considered when the design proposal was approached. With concern on these urban developments, peripheral relationships of the building were interpreted to reveal and assess potential relationships to be established. These analyses showed the potential of developing pedestrian connections from the centre of western and northern peripheries of the building complex as a good design generator. The south-east corner of the site was given particular importance and priority in the design and layout decisions, due to its prestige and the fact that it is the first place perceived when approaching the building.
BETWEEN VISIBLE – ACCESSIBLE AND THE SHELTERED – TRANQUIL
The issue of ‘spatial identity’, as one of the important discussions in the design process of the ‘Oasis’ that won the first prize in the invited architectural project competition, was sought to be answered through interpretation of the green texture both in the surrounding area and within the building complex itself. Contrary to the lack of urban green in the surrounding fabric, the ‘Oasis’ is an urban space that offers urbanites to touch the green. Although roads on the periphery of the area offer great opportunities in accessibility, the noise and movement created by heavy vehicle traffic create spatial discomfort. In this regard, the ‘Oasis’, on one hand, has strong connections with the city, is visible and accessible, and on the other, it contains sheltered, calm and, when necessary, static spaces with life it creates inside. This is the main design idea of the building.
THE OASIS INSIDE
Combination of floors and slabs defined by the composition of fluid spaces creates the character of the interior, while the western and northern edges exhibit a sharper attitude towards the city. This difference reflected on the facade and the mass plastic is also counter-balanced in the programme distribution. Masses formed in combination of units at the outer periphery enable production of different combinations with a flexible plan layout. Pedestrian movement, taken in from the boulevard to the south on the ground level, flows to the lower level with a common staircase. Due to the level difference between the northeast corner and the upper square, the ‘Oasis’ also provides an opening towards the Barış Sitesi, the low-rise green residential area. In this urban interval, an open space and gathering area is produced as a city shelter for urbanites. Through activieties organised in the open amphitheatre and stage here, a spontaneous connection with the city is formed.
The upper square, characterised by urban mobility and its role in bringing people together, features a predominant hardscape design. It also serves as a space where symbolic celebrations and advertising installations can take place during special occasions and periods. As users access to the lower level, they gradually encounter with greenery, eventually recognising an increasingly dense landscape with vegetation and water features. The green fabric and water elements also define outdoor spaces of consumption areas.
