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Architects: KG Mimarlık
- Area: 7602 m²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Büşra Yeltekin
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Manufacturers: Forbo Flooring Systems, Dendro, Jotun, Kale, Kütahya Ceramic, Nurus, SISECAM
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Lead Architect: Kurtul Erkmen
Text description provided by the architects. The subject is the design of a group of buildings belonging to Kumport Port Services and Logistics Industry Trade Co. while rethinking the port and facilities. Headquarters building, maintenance facilities and workshops and storage areas determine the main components of the design. The open space of 126.000 m2 in total, is split between customs and duty-free areas. The main visual characteristic of functions such as entry and exit of goods is a space filled with containers.
The visual effect and strong image, created by these storage boxes that are various in color but repetitive in a certain size and form, are especially highlighted in the headquarters building. The unique location and function of the headquarters building in an open space larger than 100.000 square meters, makes it necessary for it to be the most expressive building of the company. This causality, in which the design is concerned both as a dimension and as a form, is presented as an architectural answer to the containers in its immediate vicinity of the headquarters.
The headquarters' need for large indoor spaces and local regulations of 10.50 meters in height, make a horizontal solution in design the only obvious choice. The idea of two ships boarding each other determines the planning principles of the concept. Thus two office spaces that are split between two separate but alike masses are connected with bridges on each floor. Having 3 floors with a maximum overall height of 10.50 meters resulted in a somewhat compressed effect of 3.50 meter high blocks. However, the central void that we can consider as an entrance, a waiting hall and an interior space is 10.50 meters high, showing the entire building and getting natural light not only from the façade but also from the ceiling.
Thus this spacious, bright, open-to-all interior is clearly separated from the work areas, and the light, brightness and visual quality it has feeds into the somewhat compressed working areas. The sea view from the entrance is also the main focus of this open-to-all central area. The building has been designed in steel and glass. This way, indoor-outdoor relations have been taken to a higher level and every square meter of the building is washed with natural light and air. Elements that have to be excluded from the building's steel frame structure such as elevators, fire escapes, and restrooms are bare concrete.
The same design principle is followed by natural wood and ropes indoors. The same brutalist approach is continued with mechanical and electrical solutions as well while avoiding Gypsum board suspended ceiling to showcase the bare steel construction. The entrance is between two blocks that have been separated from each other with an angle and movement horizontally. The concrete ramp that allows the approach to the building over the pool at the entrance, makes reference to getting into a boat.
