Izmir Sustainability Center

In today’s context, the concept of sustainability stands out as an understanding that prioritizes environmental concerns and represents a new consumption paradigm. Sustainability, especially in the context of design, architecture, and urbanization, is evaluated by distancing itself from the destructive effects of popular culture. Global culture transforms consumer objects by disregarding local sensitivities, thereby weakening the continuity between architectural concepts and elements such as history, culture, climate, tradition, topography, materials, and environment. The concept of continuity corresponds to the preservation or renewal of perceptions of environment, culture, and history, and enhances contextual sensitivity. Spatial and typological readings regarding the proposed project area and its surroundings have played a significant role in shaping the emerging image of the proposal, which has been ingrained in the memory of the city through its industrial district imagery.

The concepts of image and memory are shaped by the accumulation of concrete and abstract information that represents the mental representation of the environment. These images stored in one’s memory play a crucial role in how individuals perceive, recognize, and behave physically and psychologically within their environment. Every individual living in a city holds an image of that city in their memory, shaped alongside the societal image created by the environmental components and the meanings attributed to these components. Social and urban images play a significant role in how individuals position themselves within the city and strengthen their sense of belonging. Urban images encompass sensory, perceptual, and cognitive processes of interacting with the environment, forming in the mind as a result of experiencing the environment. Human psychological interaction with the environment begins with the senses, and this process carries universal characteristics; environmental data are evaluated according to a series of perceptual criteria. Kevin Lynch, in his 1960 book ‘The Image of the City,’ highlighted the basic principles of perception within the framework of Gestalt, emphasizing that each part can be perceived together or separately as a whole.

The proposal for the Izmir Sustainability Center is influenced by the rapid cycles of life as a space where different activities come together and are shaped by various spatial arrangements. In today’s rapidly changing environment, relationships that can be controlled by convertible and flexible spaces are of great importance. These variable spatial arrangements replace the concept of facade in contemporary architecture with more inclusive terms such as ‘skin,’ ‘envelope,’ ‘shell,’ and ‘surface.’ In the proposal for the Izmir Sustainability Center, the concept of facade aims to provide flexible planning arrangements with homogeneous exterior surface treatments, while the layered outer shell envelope aims to create a healthy environment within the interior spaces.

The psychological effects of artificial climate control systems and isolation from the external environment lead to comfort and health issues. To address this problem, the proposal suggests an alternative approach to the closed-box typology. The proposal suggests a double-walled and openable facade system considering the climatic conditions of the location. This approach emerges as a result of both scientific and intuitive/subjective approaches, designing the building’s first layer in a module compatible with the interior and the second layer addressing climate conditions and productivity. The facade-mass relationship is conceived as a two-layered ‘envelope-shell’ from inside to outside. While the first layer is a system with windows that can be opened and closed by the user, the second layer functions as a volume that allows external intervention and climate control for the building.

The central area of the building brings controlled external atmospheric conditions into the interior space, providing natural lighting and ventilation. The double-walled structure of the mass’s facades emphasizes optimizing daylight and regulating solar radiation, serving as the most important element of architectural language and image. Opportunities such as natural climate control and daylight usage improve the building’s energy efficiency while foreseeing the creation of a working and living environment that positively affects users psychologically.

Such structures, which can be defined as innovation centers, prioritize human-centered design and consider the creative workspace as the fundamental component of the space. The rapid changes in usage characteristics and increasing uncertainty necessitate the construction of an open-ended, modular spatial infrastructure. In the proposal, by breaking the silent facade system imposed by modular infrastructure and free plan, dynamism is added to the building with the external shell worn on the building. The continuity of the outer shell vertically emphasizes the lightness of the building, supporting the design’s aesthetic and functional integrity with the voids and shadows it leaves in relation to the ground. The proposal is built upon a fundamental spatial modulation that enables the realization of common areas in different contents and sizes. The vertical void at the center of the mass provides natural lighting and ventilation. The double-walled structure of the facade optimizes daylight usage and regulates solar radiation, serving as the most important element of architectural language and image. Opportunities such as natural climate control and daylight usage improve the building’s energy efficiency while foreseeing the creation of a working and living environment that positively affects users psychologically.