Media City

As Europe’s 7th largest economy (18th worldwide),Turkey is ideally situated as a manufacturing and distribution hub, and these could be managed through Media City, an industrial complex designed by GAD to be located on the outskirts of the Istanbul New Airport, the city’s third airport, which upon completion in 2030 is expected to be the world’s largest. Responding to a commission from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce to design a site supporting the multimedia industry, GAD felt it was important to not only make a self-sufficient, sustainable city but to also create a dynamic, intriguing cultural attraction with innovative, interactive planning and structures—like virtual reality museums—allowing people to bear witness to multimedia’s past, present, and future. During Concept Development, GAD analyzed a few large historical cities with industrial roots. The relationships of volumes and voids in these urban sites had a curious resemblance to QR codes—small shapes in a tight, frantically compressed center with a few massive forms isolated along the perimeter. This inspired GAD to create typologies for Media City’s buildings, parks, streets, etc. that could be repeated, manipulated, adjusted, and organized in grids similar to QR codes, a creative approach with global application potential.