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MERIT SHIPPING HEADQUARTERS
Altunizade/İstanbul ︎ 2009 ︎ Construction Area: 13.300 m2 ︎ Site: 6.700 m2 ︎ Office
︎ Ebru Tabak, Nevzat Sayın, Sibel Özdoğan



The design was developed on a layout built on the possibilities of dividing 2000 m² portion within the building line boundaries of a long and slender property located along the street with its short end into four equal parts with two cores and recombining these parts both on a vertical and horizontal level. Assuming that the smallest office would be 500 m², the total office area of 10.000 m² could thus be divided as deemed fit and used in different sizes. The entrances at the points of the two cores, as well as the greeting, and main circulation areas would be used as common areas and any other area would be the private space of its users.  While a corporate building was envisioned at first, the unexpectedly large construction area and the possibility of building a single block pulled the building away from being a simple company headquarters. Works conducted on the capacity to easily accommodate changes that could occur in time allowed the building to evolve into a more flexible, generic form, rather than a specific one. Since we were able to determine the building program initially and transformed these specifications into design input, almost everything we tried to achieve post facto was completed. While we complied with all the regulations and rules, we faced challenges during the approval stages and received criticism for presenting a monolithic, long, tall, awkward, and incomplete-looking building. Now, however, what we have at hand is a flexible building with spatial possibilities that could be used in more ways than one. It is also sturdy and permanent enough to withstand misusage.