Istanbul, Turkey
Designed by Europe 40 Under 40 laureates Melike Altınışık and Melih Altınışık and their team at MAA, Istanbul’s futuristic 369m meter-tall new telecommunication tower nears completion and already making a sense of motion and rhythm as its silhouette changes when viewed from different directions around Istanbul.
The Küçük Çamlıca TV Radio Tower was the submission project for the firm’s Europe 40 Under 40 Award by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.
“The main purpose is to create surprising encounters by establishing strong relationships with where it is located, using light, nature, and spatial spaces; so that it may change people’s perspective, and courage them think differently”, explains the team at MAA.
Those architectural formations combine elegance and beauty with math and geometry, whose innovative concept allows inhabitable spaces to be attached to the whole of the tower’s core.
The supertall project hopes to symbolize the growth of the megacity of Istanbul.
The tower replaces several drab structures currently in use and will combine an estimated 125 broadcasting transmitters in one structure and it will house two-storey restaurant and observation deck overlooking views of Istanbul, from Asia to Europe.
There is also a public foyer, cafe, exhibition and mediated areas inside the podium which is transformed by the existing park walkway in Küçük Çamlıca Grove.
The Panorama Elevators which rising on both sides of the building are architectural elements that feed and divide the monolithic body.
Visitors will experience a vertical journey along the 180 meters towards the historical peninsula on the one side, Black Sea Coasts on the other side.
They will be able to watch Istanbul from the observation and restaurant floors where located 400m above sea level.
The tower has been topped with a 145-meter steel mast supported by a 203-meter concrete core which, as of early April, has reached the total height of 369 meters of construction (589 meters above sea level).
While wind testing was employed to confirm the monumental structure’s overall stability, it was also used to develop the unique facade design and optimize how the load of the building envelope would act on the concrete core.
The engineered facade not only provides structural optimization but allows for inhabitable space to radiate around the tower’s central concrete core.
In this unique tower, which requires advanced engineering techniques both in terms of architectural design and construction methodology, all the design features, architectural planning and material selections were made considering these processes.
The new landmark structure is expected to draw an estimated 4.5 million visitors annually with the official opening slated for 2021.
Project: MAA Küçük Çamlıca TV Radio Tower
Architects: Melike Altınışık Architects – MAA
Design Team: Melike Altınışık, Melih Altınışık, Ayça Yontarım, Özge Çağlayan, Tuğba Okçuoğlu, Çiğdem Nur Kebapçı, İrem Coşkun, Tan Akıncı, Selçuk Kişmir, Thomas Kleinow, Samed Tezgah, Ahmet Ünveren, Gül Ertekin, Mazyvdas Samuolis, Zoe Georgio, Begüm Aktaş, Yunus Emre Demirkıran, Ali Arslan, and Beste Sensöz
Client: UDHB – Ministry of Transportation and Communication
Structural Engineers: Balkar
Structural Peer Review: Thorton Tomasetti
Telecommunication Engineer: ABE Teknoloji
Mechanical Engineer: Çilingiroğlu
Electrical Engineer: HB Technic
Wind Engineerings: RWDI
Facade Engineers: Newtecnic
Landscape Architects: DS Architecture
Architectural Lighting Consultants: Dark Lighting
Wayfinding and Signage Design Consultants: Pompaa
Photographers: NAARO