Maslak No. 1 Tower

Mecidiyeköy-Maslak Axis in İstanbul is the area where Turkey’s foreign capital takes its most visible form. The design of the office building on this axis near to its İstinye connection was conditioned by inputs like the tension by the density of its environ and the restrictions of the site. The client was expecting a prestigous building to glitter just like the surrounding buildings which have been developed without any certain rule, plan or order.

Maslak No.1 Office Tower, in addition to motivations of meeting the Clients expectations of a prominent structure was also designed with an aim to elevate the spatial quality of the typical office by means of vertical interior gardens. This particular approach of enhancing the standart office space sets it apart from the other projects along ‘Istanbul’s most significant Business District’ -Büyükdere Avenue- and was achieved by designing a transparent structural envelope around a typical office block of 8.25*8.25m grid.

This envelope acts as a secondary facade in South and West directions, is detached from the interior office block up to 17 meters and gives way to attaining 20 meters high interior gardens. The void between the two facades was planned to act as an acoustical and climatic buffer zone.

The curvilinear plan of the facade formed by 150*200cm rectangular modules was designed in reference to its perception from the highway. Tha facade takes its shape through a fish-scale arrangement of glass panels to which a semi-transparent film is applied allowing fresh air to infiltrate into the intermediate space. The opacity of the film varies in accordance with the orientation of the facade; it becomes less-transparent in the southern facade whereas the panels emerge as almost transparent glasses in the northern facade.

Another significant feature of the building is its porosity on the ground level. The office buildings in this district are planned and are being managed as private gated communities, independently secured and controlled. No free access or passage is allowed even at the communal ground levels, that prevents any possible interaction with the street and neighboring alike complexes. As a matter of creating permability on the urban level, a considerable part of the ground floor, together with the buffer zone and the outside terrace at Maslak No:1 Tower is kept off the secured&private areas of the building, that welcomes public freely with a hope that future developments or refurbishments at the region may carry on this approach to enchance the urban life around the district.