JON STRAS, ARCHITECT

The initial study from the Istanbul Studio included a lot of group work in addition to an Istanbul Revealed drawing. My Istanbul Revealed drawing is articulating the deterioration of the city. The stone steps at the mosques being worn down, the still standing city wall creating views of the city around it, the Hans being littered with deterioration creating skylights.

 

The group work was a great deal of site analysis. The digital views of the model articulate the important relationships of the city, the relationship between the water, sky, and monumental buildings. 

 

The reflective center of Istanbul articulated in the analysis more closely looks at the relationship of the water with the monumental buildings, all being organized with either a view of the water, or a view from it.

 

This design is entrenched in the abstraction of the major thoughts in Istanbul, being the nature, the Han (or commercial center), a cultural space, and of course, water. Each finger comes from the existing aqueduct, mimicking the rhythm of structure already established, being a representation of the new and old blending.

 

The aqueduct is inherently a transporter of water, but being a large structure creates a border between the surrounding neighborhoods. An important goal of this intervention is to create new axis’s that connect the nature on one side of the aqueduct with the urban conditions on the other. Locating each finger to relate to the programmatic implications of the other side of the aqueduct, eliminating the barrier.

 

The relationship to the aqueduct is an obvious important part of the design, and each finger has a different interaction with it, becoming a new articulation of the architectural type that it represents.

 

One major theme in the four spaces is the blurring of the outside and inside space, being inside an aqueducts arch is a shield from the elements and is utilized as a mechanics shop or café. But it is also outside, having dirt underneath your shoes and feeling the wind in your hair. The Cistern is an enclosed space, being underground, but with water dripping from above and being surrounded by a subterranean lake, makes it feel more exterior than interior. This blurring can be translated with this intervention by having many spaces of both interior and exterior, creating void spaces, creating a three dimensional translation of the two dimensional idea of the aqueduct. Creating a form and utilizing the voids it creates as the primary spaces.