Head Office of Selçuk Ecza, 2013

Dynamic massing, spacious interiors

Being the capital to three empires throughout its history, at the crossroad between East and West, Istanbul symbolizes interaction, transformation and development settled on two lands, that is Europe and Asia, divided by the Bosporus.

In the process of becoming a metropolis, and an international hub with a population of almost 15 million people, besides the CBD on the European side for centuries, for the recent decades, office developments are integrating in the residential areas of the Anatolian side of the city.  Accordingly mansions gradually being replaced by offices.  The construction of prestigious buildings adds a permanent economic and aesthetic value to this zone, ensured that once residential quarter, grows properly.

The owner of the pharmaceutical company is an elderly couple who would like the house feeling at the office; accordingly, scales, organization and aesthetics refer to residential settings, namely traditional Istanbul waterside mansions.

Like a small county settlement, juxtaposition of seven house-like volumes with hipped roofs forms the campus. The individual ‘houses’ integrate to each other either through gardens, roof gardens, upper or lower patios and paths and atriums. The brown color of the exterior brings up the soft wood effect and unifies the structure.

Reminiscent of modern villas, daylight enters through roofs and all transparent sides, creating a diffused lighting mood in the spacious internal space until the basement floor. To provide the balance of light and shadow and to increase the efficiency of passive climate control, the masses are enveloped with a designed mesh system.

Three floors for office use and two underground floors are reserved for car parking of the five-storey structure. Above the car park, first basement floor is at the sunken garden level; besides offices, multi-purpose halls, staff dining hall, sports and lounge zone are located, with an easy access to the green landscape. In addition to the wide windows, interiors of the basement floor receive daylight also through atriums. The main entrance to the building is provided at the ground floor, by way of a bridge, side bridges link the roof terraces. Atriums and interior gardens create social zones between offices, located at the ground floor. The first floor (the top floor) is the executive office floor for managers and partners, including elegant dining halls, activity rooms and VIP lounges; “private world’ of both partners constructed as mezzanine duplexes at two ends of the top floor.