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Architects: TEGET
- Area: 5180 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Egemen Karakaya
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Lead Architects: Teğet Architecture, Mehmet Küçükoğlu, Ertuğ Uçar
Text description provided by the architects. Konya Administration Complex consists of two buildings in the city center, different in period and form, and a courtyard with a portico that brings them together on the urban ground. The first building is the Girls Teachers' School dated 1924, bearing the characteristics of the First National Architectural period, and was registered in 1982 by the Konya Cultural Heritage Preservation Board. It was designed by the architects Muzaffer and Fatih Ülkü.
The second structure is the modernist sports hall which was located on the same parcel as the Girls’ Teacher School. Unlike the first building, its architect and construction date is unknown. Yet due to the particular characteristics of modern architecture the building had, it was thought that it had been built between 1965 and 70. Teğet proposed to reuse not only the school building but also the sports hall by utilizing its spatial and functional potential, even if it is not registered by the authorities.
With the integrative landscape intervention that connects these two buildings from different periods and architectural movements (First National Architecture and 60’s Modernism in Turkey) located on the same parcel to each other and the city ground, it was aimed to ensure not only the continuity of space but also the urban and collective memory. The courtyard acts as an urban fixture in terms of circulation and recreation.
The two restored buildings were re-functioned with programs such as culture-art, education, and offices and were opened to public use. Formerly a school building is now a museum, exhibition hall, and administration office for the Metropolitan Municipality of Konya.
The sports hall, on the other hand, is now a multipurpose hall with a capacity of 200 people. In addition, the bookstore on the street level defines an entrance and a link for the complex. Yet the substantial part is that the large-scale park connecting the previously fragmented urban ground with its tranquil landscape spanning two elevations became an important element of inhabitants of Konya.
