Maslak No.1 Tower

This office building, situated on the Mecidiyekoy-Maslak axis (where Turkey’s foreign capital takes its most visible form) was conditioned by the tension between the density of its environment and the tightness of the project site. It was the client’s wish that the building would be prestigious just like all the other surrounding buildings (which are meant to be prominent) as they were developed with no certain rule or any kind of plan or order. Apart from the other projects along the Büyükdere Avenue (the main business district of Istanbul), Maslak No.1 Office Tower was designed to enrich the quality of the typical office space by introducing vertical gardens. In order to accomplish that, a rational office block becomes enveloped with a free formed structure which acts as a secondary facade and detaches from the building up to 17 meters wide to create 20 meter high vertical gardens. The space in-between these two facades serves as a buffer zone both for the acoustical and the climatic sense. The curvilinear plan of this facade allows air flow through and is designed in relationship to its perception from the highway as the panels have a translucent film layer over them that adapts contextually.