VitrA Çağdaş Mimarlık Dizisi - Arkitera

This project is all about İstanbul. The two legs of the U-shaped layout represent the
European and Anatolian sides of the city. In between the two sides, there is a large
pool that symbolizes the “Bosphorus”, with the “Maiden’s Tower” in between. There is
a channel at the side of the pool for the sultan’s boats. The two sides are connected
by the “Da Vinci” bridge. The main entrance of the hotel that houses the reception and
the lobby under an impressive vault is located at the “Dolmabahçe Palace”. The ground
level of Dolmabahçe Palace has been designed as the “Grand Bazaar”, an arched structure
in accordance with the original, intended to house the shops of prestigious brands.
Haydarpaşa and Beşiktaş Piers were designed to for restaurant use. In addition, the
lower levels house a 7.500 m² spa center with a rain forest theme.
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As a consequence of changes in the tourism investment policies of Turkey, the Council
for the Conservation and Preservation of Cultural and Natural Assets decided in 1984
to decrease the borderline for the natural coast protection zone from 150 meters to
35 meters. Following this change, agricultural areas and natural and historical zones that
were formerly protected were rapidly transformed and filled up by tourism facilities,
accelerated further by the law for “The Promotion of Tourism Investments”. 8,5 kilometers
long and 150 meters wide, the Lara cliff coastline located to the east of Antalya and
1,5 kilometers from the Kundu coastline is surrounded by dunes and pine forests, and
has been declared a “Zone of Preservation and Development of Culture and Tourism”,
thus opening the area to tourism investments. Mardan Palace Hotel is located within
this region called the “Kundu Tourism Facilities Zone”, on the coast of Kundu village
20 kilometers away from Antalya Airport, between the streams of Aksu and Acısu,
where the most luxurious tourism facilities of Turkey are lined up side by side, away
from urban environments.
With its fictional references and ultra-luxurious services, Mardan Palace Hotel, which
was initially called Safisa Istanbul & Istanbul Palace, is one of the most striking examples
of the post-modern approach that has brought the “palace” to the agenda of thematic
hotels. Similar to thematic parks, the complex with the theme “Istanbul” was
designed as a collage of well-known images detached from their contexts, including
easily re-cognizable symbols and buildings combined in a fictional construction.
The buildings remind the user of Dolmabahçe Palace, Moda, Beşiktaş Piers and the
Maiden’s Tower, areas representing the Anatolian and European districts and the Bosphorus.
The indoor shopping area was inspired by the Grand Bazaar, and even Leonardo
da Vinci’s unbuilt bridge designed for the Golden Horn has been included in this idealized
fictional Istanbul.
These non-places serve post-tourist users who have lost their expectations for authenticity
and reality and are aware that everything is fictional. These users have a neverending
demand for consumption, pleasure and fantasy. With their phantasmagoric and
fictional properties, these spaces are signs of the structural transformation that tourism
is undergoing.
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