SANTRALİSTANBUL FOOD COURT
Eyüp/İstanbul ︎ 2011 ︎ Construction Area: 2970 m2 ︎ Site: 118.000 m2 ︎ Recreation︎ Ahmet Korfalı, Mert Eyiler, Nevzat Sayın, Özlem Özdemir, Sibel Özdoğan

SANTRALİSTANBUL CAFE 1
Designated as a dining hall for students, this section was also used as the cafeteria when the campus served as a power plant. The possibility of demolishing the former building, which was less durable and adequate, and gradually expanding the building partly set on the traces of the former one was an important input for the selection of its location. The practicality of receiving service from the second gate of this point of the campus, which could expand all the way to the riverbank and be transformed into a large park, cemented this decision.
Our idea was that along with the old building, which was protected by law, this could evolve into a space with open and semi–open smaller structures, where students could spend their free time and thus serve as an area for them to spend time together. The past decade has proved us right.

SANTRALİSTANBUL CAFE 2
From the first decision–making phase onwards, this space had been conceived as a restaurant and tuned out as such. We rebuilt a large portion of it, but as we reassembled the pieces we dismantled, it remained in its old, original state.
As we elongated the building with annexes built on both ends, we used one of the expansion possibilities of industrial buildings and merely extended the length of the building with the same structure.

SANTRALİSTANBUL CAFE 3
Located immediately across from Centre Pompidou in Paris, the museum created by the reconstruction of Atelier Brancusi is one of the most beautiful art spaces I have ever seen in my life.
We began working on this project with the hope that this project, too, could have a similar character. We were imagining a research, work, and display area bearing the name of İlhan Koman. We could have maintained the exterior and transform the interior in line with that objective. If need be, we could have used the expansion possibilities of industrial buildings and grown in either direction. Unfortunately, we could not bring these ideas to fruition and were forced to settle with the addition of a cafeteria–restaurant.

