Interview by Elena Sbokou
Seamlessly blending cutting-edge technology with organic forms and creating spaces that are not only functional but also profoundly inspiring, Melike Altinişik is an an acclaimed architect renowned for her innovative and visionary approach to design.
Today, we delve into her creative process, explore her notable achievements, and gain insights into the future of architecture through her unique perspective.
Global Design News: What initially inspired you to pursue a career in architecture? How have your motivations evolved over time, and what continues to drive your passion for architectural innovation?
Melike Altişinik: When you start examining the passion for creation in a person and their ability to engage in a dialogue with their essence from a very young age, none of the stops along their career journey seem like coincidences or strokes of luck. After a vibrant and colorful childhood, it was expected that I would do something related to design in the future.
I have decided to study architecture in Istanbul Technical University where it is in a historical building named “Taşkışla.” In 1999, when I walked through the historic doors of the Taşkışla building, the invaluable professors and many individuals I encountered in its quiet corridors, central courtyard, and studios significantly contributed to my architectural journey.
In 2003, After accomplishing my bachelor studies with high honors at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), my adventure took me from Istanbul to London. I had the opportunity to pursue my master’s degree at the Architectural Association’s Design Research Laboratory (AA DRL) in a historic Victorian-era building located in Bedford Square, in the heart of London. Passing through the door that opened to London, I learned that nothing is impossible; it just may take some time to happen. By working hard, persevering through falls, and most importantly, continuing with patience and hope, dreams can be realized. The minds that these institutions connect you with can open entirely new and important adventures in your life.
This path gave me the chance to work on unique and pioneering projects at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) almost for 7 years. In 2012, after spending eight years in London, I found myself at a critical juncture regarding my future. I could either continue my path at ZHA or take a significant risk and return to Istanbul to start my own venture from scratch.
In 2013, I returned to Istanbul and decided to leverage all my accumulated knowledge and experience under the umbrella of MAA-Melike Altınışık Architects. Today, MAA has grown into an international architectural practice with offices in Istanbul, Turkey, and Seoul, South Korea. We focus on developing innovative and visionary projects across a wide range of scales, from masterplans and high-rise building designs to interior spaces, installations, and product design.
The year 2024 -2025 will be one where MAA reaps the rewards of our hard work over the past five years. Three of our long-anticipated projects will be inaugurated soon. In our plans for the next coming years, we aim to extend MAA’s presence and office locations beyond Istanbul and Seoul hopefully by establishing offices in London and in USA.
Today, we can say that I follow the curiosity which seeks for knowledge. It helps to overcome challenges calmly and virtuously by harnessing the power of knowledge where gender becomes invisible to drive my passion for architectural innovation and to make impossible possible.
GDN: How do you integrate principles of sustainability into your architectural designs? Can you give examples of projects where sustainability was a significant consideration?
M.A: MAA creates space with the dialogue in between “nature – technology – people”. Inspired by a wide variety of sources not sources not directly associated with architecture in the traditional sense, such as organic and natural systems. MAA designs unique spaces that establish dialogues with their cities, embody exploration, capture contemporary design, and shape the future. The aim of each new architectural project is to creating surprise encounters that actively contribute to daily life and social interactions while bringing new experiences to people by using ‘light, nature and space’ as a design tool. Thus, MAA’s purpose is to change people’s perspective to allow them to see and think differently.
Today, we are rapidly moving toward the future, but within this pace, we need a deliberate slowness. In this context, we must develop new awareness about the density of our cities, living spaces, and the kind of future that awaits us. Technology should be used to ensure the sustainability of nature and, consequently, humanity across all disciplines, especially architecture. I believe we should design the lifestyles of the future and then develop the necessary projects in the built environment.
MAA’s architectural design for COA Hills as an eco-friendly micro-home holiday resort located in Balkaya Village, Sapanca, offers a unique architectural design that promotes health, nature, and eco-conscious living. The resort’s sustainable architectural vision is expected to inspire a new vitality in the region and serve as a healing place where the soul finds its release.
COA Hills offers guests the opportunity to stay in beautifully designed 24 micro-homes made of natural and renewable materials such as timber which can be re-introduced into natural cycle. These micro-homes are situated on a sloped landscape that is surrounded by natural treasures such as forests, and they offer breathtaking scenery of Sapanca Lake.
In those terms, COA Hills will become a place of inspiration where nature and design find collaboration. A place to stay with the natural materials that surround, with the feeling of timber so organic and pure, a comfort that’s timeless, a true escape, where joy and peace bound.
The resort has opted to use timber architecture for its micro-homes. These homes are typically designed to be energy-efficient and compact, while still providing all the necessary amenities for comfortable living in a range between 25-50sqm. Timber is a renewable and environmentally friendly building material that has a significantly lower carbon footprint than traditional building materials such as concrete or steel. The use of timber materials allows for efficient insulation, which helps to keep the homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
COA Hills offers a sustainable holiday experience that promotes eco-conscious living while providing guests with an opportunity to reconnect with nature and themselves. The resort’s natural aesthetic appeal, use of sustainable building materials, and range of facilities make it an attractive destination for those seeking an architectural design that blends in well with the surrounding environment is expected to be completed, with the official opening slated first quarter of 2025.
GDN: Urban spaces often present unique challenges. Could you discuss a project where you successfully navigated urban constraints to create a functional and aesthetically pleasing design?
M.A.: In 2022, MAA took part with the “THE GATE” interactive installation at Tersane Istanbul (Golden Horn Port) in the 21st Brand Conference curated by In-Between Design Platform and led by Yapı Kredi World.
“THE GATE” had appeared at the intersection of 550 years of mossy and stratified history like the Tersane and exist at the intersection of nature and humanity. It exist in a fuzzy “moment” and “space” that includes movement, social encounter, perceptual existence with the observer. People are in an ongoing questioning throughout its life. “Present and Future” that is a general expression in nature and the universe expresses the principle of duality and complementarity. It is in an opposite duality such as natural-humane, beautiful-ugly, good-evil, chaos-order, but cannot define itself without the other. All spatial and functional transformations in the historical process of the Tersane, are a duality of continuity in its natural environment, reflecting discontinuity. It finds its place in all these contrasts, dilemmas, balances and complementarities. It keeps a new frame on the place that it physically owns in its current location. People experience thresholds and are not aware of before from this frame. People dream of the land when they see the sea, the sky when they touch the earth, the day when they know the night, and the “future” when they live in the “present.”
It refers to the historical process that surrounds it in the physical layer with the Corten material, which takes the lead in its location. It keeps a new frame with a Corten gate without corners to the city, which contains contradictions, dualities and the definition of limitlessness. At the same time, it blurs all dualities thanks to the perforated reflective surface in its center. People face to the city in this special area where the land and the sea are the threshold. Humans could observe themself and what they leave behind while experiencing it.
“THE GATE” conveys the story of the present and the future with a digital layer that dialogues with a reflective perforated metal surface at the intersection. It confronts the observer with the world of “Present” and “Future” at the intersection of time thanks to the digital layer AR (Augmented Reality Technology). The “Present” interface creates scenarios in the AR world to make visible the climate problems that are shaking our world and lives more and more every day and to raise awareness.
The design enables the experience of today’s destruction of nature in an ever-changing world, the surreal destruction of the urban landscape. In the “future” interface, people begin to understand the return of the wild nature (re-wilding nature) with the changing and developing technological tectonics. In the “future” the wild nature will be revived, and human, nature and technology will mingle in harmonic balance. Revived nature will tell the story of a struggle to cope with today’s climate crisis.
It creates a sustainable bridge between the present and the future and says what they want to say from the AR Interface. It brings people face to face with different scenarios apart from their own morphology. It does not transform; it is metamorphosis itself. This journey, which it has established in time, is the questioning of oneself in nature.
THE GATE is the experience of the balance of human, nature and technology.
GDN: Can you describe a recent project where you introduced innovative design techniques or technologies? How did these innovations impact the project’s outcomes?
M.A.: MAA’s architectural approach which starts on a “white blank page” goes through many processes until it meets the user, and MAA has a design approach for every step of the process. Its goal is to expand the boundaries of contextual, architectural thinking by transforming smart technologies into important actors that produce with them in the process. All the projects that compose MAA’s portfolio constitute the parts of a scale-independent, long-term design agenda.
As we evolve into a world where engineering might enable us to design human bodies, brains, and minds, we must rediscover the tools, materials, and construction methodologies we use in architecture. We need to design and produce materials that might not currently be used in architecture but can help us use natural resources more efficiently and intelligently.
On one hand, we are designing smart cities, smart architectures, smart products, and smart materials that aim to heal the wounds we have inflicted on nature and humanity. On the other hand, projects like the Seoul Robot and AI Museum demonstrate how we are also transforming smart technological tools into important actors that design and produce with us in the process. This approach sets sail on a journey to expand the contextual thinking boundaries of architecture.
The new Robot & AI Museum (RAIM) in Seoul is a specialized science museum dedicated to the display and exploration of Robots and AI technologies. As a core cultural facility, RAIM will serve as a base for the 4th industrial revolution in the northeast region, harmonizing entrepreneurship, job opportunities, housing, culture, and commercial functions. The museum is expected to inspire new vitality in the region, connecting researchers from nearby universities, research institutes, and corporations with citizens through a science and culture network.
In architectural terms, RAIM’s design manifesto focuses on developing a unique architectural language with smart design and building methodologies. The preferred form is a sphere-like, non-directional, fluid, and organic shape, creating its own universe for robots, AI technologies, and their visitors inside the museum. The fluid form of the building surface and landscape formation incorporates public space into the interior and organizes pedestrian and vehicle movement, creating in-between spaces. Smart construction technologies will be used instead of conventional construction methodologies to manifest the developments and innovations of our build environment in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. Building Information Modelling (BIM) will be emphasized to ensure advanced engineering techniques in both architectural design and building methodology. Special digital fabrication methods will be involved in the process of transferring knowledge from smart design technologies to off-site and on-site smart construction technologies.
RAIM’s journey starts at the entrance gate with welcoming robots. The functions on the ground floors such as reception, ticket halls, café and shop area ensure continuity and interaction between the outdoor public spaces and the interior spaces. The vertical exhibition tunnel located in the centre of RAIM is a special space that dissolves the sharp boundary between the dualities of this world and the world of Robots and AI-related smart technologies. This unique experience takes visitors on a journey with a scientific, technological, and innovative mission towards the permanent and temporary exhibition spaces on the 3rd and 4th floor. Educational and administrative facilities are located on the 2nd floor. There are also 2 Basement levels with carparks and technical service facilities.
RAIM will play a catalytic role in advancing and promoting science, technology, and innovation throughout society. It will become the “Monitoring Center” of Seoul, allowing people to interact with smart technologies such as robots, AI, AR, VR, XR, and more. The museum is expected to be completed, with the official opening slated for late 2024. Planned exhibitions, festivals, and forums co-hosted with nearby entrepreneurship and cultural facilities, such as “Changdong Aurene,” “Seoul Museum of Photography,” and “Startup and Cultural Industrial Complex,” will further contribute to the revitalization of the local economy and cultural network in the Changdong Sanggye area.
GDN: Architecture often involves collaboration with various stakeholders. Can you share an experience where collaboration played a crucial role in the success of a project? How did you manage different perspectives and ensure a cohesive final design?
MA: Today, we are living in an interdisciplinary era. The increasing volume and complexity of knowledge, the removal of boundaries between disciplines, and the changing hierarchical structures are leading to the hybridization of professions and the growth of collaborative synergies.
MAA’s professional portfolio includes futuristic and technologically advanced innovative projects such as the Çamlıca Tower, a 369-meter-tall structure awarded CTBUH’s “Best Tall Non-Building 2022”.
Istanbul’s futuristic 369m meter-tall new telecommunication tower “Çamlıca Tower” seeks a sense of motion and rhythm within its silhouette that changes when viewed from different directions around Istanbul. It is not a line or a trace, but an expression of history, culture, communication, and interaction. Moreover, it is a sociological aspect of the silhouette and statement of the city to its citizen in line with its needs. It is the reflection of its nature. Tower has an organic structure that is not familiar within the urban fabric of Istanbul. The main design inputs such as wind direction, local topography, and the sceneries reflected in the form of the tower. Its 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.
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. It evolved into one of the rare examples where many different disciplines and expertise worked together and produced solutions. Specialized work was carried out against disasters such as wind, earthquake and fire, for this structure which rises at the highest point of the city.
Çamlıca Tower is a contemporary structure for which it’s hard to say where engineering ends and architecture begins. It operationally integrates the disciplines of architecture and engineering. The Tower connects in a new way the two construction-design practices that have become independent since the 19th century. We live in a world where architecture and engineering are being designed together. One’s role does not begin where the other’s ends.
“Building Information Modeling (BIM)” has been used to ensure both the establishment of interdisciplinary systems that form a common structure between engineers and architects, and the visualization of problems that may occur in the project while it is still in the planning phase.
A co-working atmosphere was created in an interdisciplinary platform for each process. And new solutions were explored based on the system of thought that emerged out of this remarkable opportunity. The desired design could be implemented with the combination of architecture and engineering. And loss of information was minimalized as the disciplines adopted not a repeating but an evolving role.
Instead of being a tower consisting of the structural equivalents of typical geometric forms; with its spaces and functions, it transforms into a character that is in a relationship with the nature and climatic conditions of the place it is located in. It is shaped by the wind of the region. With the data and the results of the wind analysis tests carried out by the team, the shape it takes creates its own form in a scientific context as well. While doing this, models that contain all the structural information were developed, which had turned into a reservoir of information while still at the phase of a project. This is a structure that was built from top down, constructed in blocks of 3 or 4 floors on the ground and at the base of the tower which are pulled up in segments for 200 m. These required the tower to be a project in which advanced engineering methodology is involved. And Çamlıca Tower became such a unique architectural project.
Melike Altinişik has been awarded with a 40under40 Award in 2017 and has created a number of highly acclaimed award winning projects.
