GezI Park District

Gezi Park District
The Urban Living Room
Taksim Square has been going through transformations since
the beginning of the 20th century. We strongly believe there is no
ultimate solution one can reach to fix Taksim. It is simply not the way
we see the nature of design and the role of the architect, the urban
planner, landscape designer. At the moment, we are experiencing
odd artifacts from the previous planning decisions taken. We can
observe and experience these as people living in Istanbul.
Istanbul has a very strong topographical character. Taksim square
is a plateau at +85m sea level, located on the ridge formed
by great topographical change - this path is called Tarlabasi
Caddesi, Halaskargazi Street, and Buyukdere Caddesi,
reaching 14km north till Haciosman. On this spine, Taksim serves
as a hub almost as crucial as Mecidiyekoy and Levent.
TAKSIM SQUARE REMAINS AS A HOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF DENSE URBAN
FABRIC OF ISTANBUL
Henri Prost defined the steep drop from Taksim in the northeast
direction as a green valley knowing the topographical character
of Istanbul. Today, Henri Prost’s Gezi Park is no longer a green
valley. Ceylan Intercontinental, Ritz Carlton, and many more standalone
private buildings with their fence were built into the valley,
interrupting the continuity of the green belt idea.
Yet, we believe Taksim is no longer the most crucial
transportation hub in the city. The city has had a trend of
migrating with consumption - not because of maximized capacity
- towards north starting in the 20th century. Starting from the
Ottoman Palace migrating from Topkapi to Dolmabahce, there has
been a historical trend to migrate towards the north of Istanbul.
This trend was followed by the business district of Karakoy moving
to Mecidiyekoy, later to Maslak. IBB’s new office was considered
in Maslak, Galatasaray’s Stadium moved from Taksim Square to
Mecidiyekoy; later to Seyrantepe, United States Consulate moved to
North to Istinye from historical Istanbul, bank headquarters moved
from Karakoy to 4.Levent, even the main airport moved to North in
2019.
BUILDING OFFICE | PAGE 1
ORGANIZATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS ALIGNED ON
BUYUKDERE STREET, CROSSING TWO HIGHWAYS E-5 AND E-6
Taksim Square has gotten weaker as a business center of
Istanbul as a result of this migration, yet Taksim has always
managed to preserve its socio-political meaning. In the 21st
century, the government defined Taksim Square as trouble making
public space where protests are made often on the 1st of May; often,
shops were vandalized every year as a result of the tension. The
gatherings, demonstrations were banned in Taksim on almost every
meaningful day, including New Year’s Day.
DRAWING SHOWING STRONG TOPOGRAPHY OF ISTANBUL IN RELATION TO
LANDMARKS AND MAJOR HIGHWAYS
The government was showing the public two new addresses
for gatherings: Yenikapi Meeting Zone and Maltepe Meeting
Zone. These vast concrete plains - larger than Tiananmen Square
were reclaimed land on the coast of Istanbul to justify the removal
of Taksim Square from the city. Providing the central, most extensive
of its kind solution to any need has been an urban planning strategy
in the 21st century in Turkey. This formula was followed for city
hospitals, court buildings, the need for gatherings treated in the
same way.