Precedent Analysis of Santralistanbul

Silahtarağa power plant was Ottoman Empires’ first urban scaled power plant. It supplied electricity to İstanbul from 1913 to 1983. It is located in Golden Horn in between Alibeyköy and Kağıthane which were important focal points in the past but with time lost their importance. In 2004 İstanbul Bilgi University  rented the facility for 20 years and there still are buildings that have to be conserved as industrial heritage. There are three different interpretations to the existing structures from three different architects.

Emre Arolat – Contemporary Art Museum

Emre Arolat designed for the 2 large boiler houses that were already demolished. The most important things in this designs are that, they used the traces of the demolished structures and since they are completely new buildings now they don’t show themselves that much next to the old, existing  strucutres. The structure is consisted of a heavy and dense inner core and a light, semi-transparent outer envelope. They have a massive, concrete base and on the upper levels a mesh like envelope covering the structure. Especially at they they appear opaque in contrast with the transparent structures next to it. However at night with lighting it appears completely transparent. Also the two buildings side by side seem like they are two seperated structures, with the help of recessing the middle part. So they complete the pile of buildings by being seperate but close to each other.

Han Tümertekin – Energy Museum

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In Han Tümertekins’ Energy Museum we see that the machines and the structure is conserved as it was. The machines have the priority in this structure since the factory was made for them. These existing mechanical equipments are transformed into an artificial landscape and the assembly lines transformed into catwalks for people. So that way he provided a new and different platform to show the existing. And another interesting part is that the building was built in the machine scale but with the new platforms -catwalk- it brings human scale to machine scale. Also in this building there is a light and transparent outer shell and a heavy inner core.

Nevzat Sayın – Bilgi University Architecture Studios

In Nevzat Sayıns’ interpretations, the 4th and the 6th boiler rooms are conserved as they was with the mechanical equipments inside in their original structure and place. They designed a new shell inside the existing outer envelope for the structure. The new steel structure inside provided an open space construct for the architecture studios with an open gallery in the middle and all the structural and infrastructural elements kept open. Their aim was to be respectful for the old but also making its presence felt at the same time.