In our partnership, both our occupations complement each other like the pieces of a puzzle, and serious achievements such as time, budget, performance and functionality also accompany to form the whole of the image.
Can you introduce OSO Mimarlik? Can you explain its design philosophy, process and what kind of projects you work on?
It is a family company established by three brothers who came to Istanbul from Izmir for their university education. After our school educations, we worked in various projects and gained experiences for approximately 10 years. Then, in 2007, we entered into he business life in our office located in Ortakoy – Besiktas where we are still operating in. We specialized in various fields based on design and architecture due to our different experiences we gained in our business lives before the establishment of OSO Mimarlik. After OSO Mimarlik was established, we have continued design and project production under the subjects of those areas. In addition, we expanded our fields of operation with the projects we sustained, application services in contracting subjects, and our works we performed both domestically and internationally. In our works, we never had a point of view that follows a certain architecture line or style. We have always adapted a “Human” oriented approach in our projects and sustain an operation grounded with data we gained from communication experiences of human psychology related to the places. In addition, we can say that we are in a search that aims to create difference within the framework of proportion, scale, and balance and in which today’s rapid technology reflections are integrated. We do this search by analyzing the existing one in detail, observing the relationships it establishes with its the immediate circle, and determine its unique features. We continue our operations with the aim of building a practice which is individuated with references collected from this approach and can meet long-term needs within the framework of sustainability.
You have two partners who were specialized in three different disciplines and revealed this in a single project; one partner is an architect, another one is an interior architect, and the other one one is a construction engineer… How can you assess your backgrounds in different disciplines in your projects?
Partnerships are generally the association established between the people who studied on the same desks in the university and received same education. In such kind of partnerships, very parallel standing is dominant in perspectives towards the projects. In our partnership, both our occupations complement each other like the pieces of a puzzle, and serious achievements such as time, budget, performance and functionality also accompany to form the whole of the image. It enables us to determine some points overlooked during the project analysis process more rapidly and minimize the failure rate. We should absolutely say that this also has important advantages for employers. Of course, there are many fields of specialization in building a structure other than those three branches . However, those disciplines are articulated after the overview of the project is created. In this context, we offer the advantage of creating the setup, concept and backbone of a project and the whole project process until the application and undertaking works according to the project scale exclusively with our current structure.
Regarding your portfolio, you continue various architectural and internal architectural production in various fields from hotel to residence, office to restaurants. How do you provide this versatility?
Within the 10-year period before OSO Mimarlik was established, we had had important experiences in different sectors and titles such as tourism, food-beverage, retail, commercial areas, offices, social reinforcements and residences under design and architecture. In addition, we gained a serious knowledge in the same period on application and contracting side of those works. As of 2007, we have been sustaining project production and application contracting works under the name of OSO Mimarlik that is our own company by using this experience and knowledge. By sustaining our projects according to our fields of specialization under the roof of OSO Mimarlik, we have gained a position in which three of us own the fields of specialization which belonged to only one of us once. This is important for considerable passes in solution and production of the projects we conduct and sharing, and following the works. In parallel with this, we would like to say that we reap the benefit of our partnership in terms of time and economic gainings; even this partnership turns into an advantage for our employers.
Your Transbatur Management Office project is a very qualified project which reflects the company identity into the interior design… What are the criteria you follow during the design stage of the project?
Even if the office usage of Transbatur company is a standard desk work as every office layout, we started the project based on the problematic: “How to make the employees and visitors coming to the company feel what the company actually does”. With our approach, we gave the office an added value and character, and sustained our works considering the positive reflections in terms of motivation. Since the field of operation of the company is logistic road transport, there is actually a mobility and motion in every work. Therefore, we focused on the argument “road”. However, the contrariness between the static situation in office and mobility and road has turned into a problematic that we need to solve. Even if being stuck in a shell due to architectural factors restricts us, we shaped the place according to the program that is completely created by us by making the place shell and core form without making static interventions. Thus, we shaped the connections of all places from the main entrance according to the halls by giving space to a spacious and this defined hall area. Therefore, halls became our main routes, namely a kind of highway. We made the highway more mobile by locating the areas such as toilets, system rooms, archive and prayer rooms that we want to hide at the edge of this hall and using the emptiness and fullness in the form of curvilinearizing of road. Thus, a fluidity is created in the office. We gained a very strong texture that reflects the character of the work they do by covering the dead surfaces of the places which we locate the roadside and don’t need the light with oven-drying brattice panel produced in trapeze form in container plates used in transportation. This was one of the most exciting factors for us. Usage of turquoise which is also known as a Turkish color in this trapeze panels has found a right place in a representative manner due to Transbatur is an international company. Moreover, we think that this color gives an important motivation to the employees since this color has a soothing feature and raises the positive feelings.
You undertake the internal architectural design of different places of the project named Bilisim Vadisi (The Valley of Informatics) which will be one of the biggest technoparks of Turkey. Can you give some information about this project? Which stages of the project are you involved?
Bilisim Vadisi is the biggest technopark project of Turkey which spreads over a 1.572.000 square meter of area at the entrance area of Osmangazi bridge within the borders of Gebze district and is planned to be realized in 5 stages. The project is an incentive participated by Tubitak, Kocaeli Municipality, TSI, Kosgeb, Gebze Technical University, ICI, Kocaeli Chamber of Industry, and Kocaeli Chamber of Commerce under the presidency of Ministry of Industry and Technology. If the project is completed without going through a change, it is planned (master plan) that total closed areas will be 3.250.000 square meters in this campus that consists of offices, congress centers, laboratories, incubation buildings, guest houses, health centers, sports centers, primary-secondary education institutions, and golf courses. When we involved in the Bilisim Vadisi, almost 70% of the rough construction of Stage 1 had been completed. We contracted all the common areas of Administrative Building, and buildings of Incubation Center and Data Center constructed within the scope of this stage except the leasable area of them, recreation areas included in the building usage, and all design, project service and occupational supervision works of internal architecture of Technopark management offices.
Can we say that this project will be shaped in a concept in which innovation and technological improvements will be integrated? What are the impacts of OSO Mimarlik on the interior designs?
The thought how to give an additional motivation to the users of this center who have ideas in the field of technology and are in search of realizing those ideas with innovations in terms of feeling and ambiance was the starting point of our works. In this sense, the most assertive section among the areas in which we take office in the design and project is the ground floor of the Administrative Building. In line with the briefs we get from the management units, a new setup and scenario were created for the ground floor. Accordingly, we made some alterations in the layout plan of the architectural project of the ground floor. We planned an exhibition hall which will always be open to the guests and where innovative products to be produced in this center will be exhibited. In this hall, there was a section in which contributions of the important inventors of Turkish-Islamic history to science and their works are shown. The entrance axis was moved with our interventions to the architectural project in the facade where the main entrance is located for the reception and lobby for which we allocate a wide area. In addition, we reorganized the meeting areas on this floor. In order to strengthen the connections of those places located around the core and make the circulation area more defined, we built up the connection of the halls with each order with a very special suspended ceiling and illumination design integrated into it. By keeping this fluid form on the ceiling also in projection the floor covering, we created an atmosphere which will be an inspiration to innovative inventions we aim for, gives excitement to the places and has a high energy. Even the suspended ceiling is hardly manufactured due to its 3-axis form, this construction component plays a leading role in the character of places, so we think that this is worth all the difficulties.
What OSO Mimarlik has on its agenda recently? Can you give some information about your current projects?
Now, there is a decrease in domestic projects due to the economic fluctuation in Turkey and shrinkage of markets. However, we are on the wane of the renovation works in Sütas Directorate General Dudullu – Istanbul building. In this project, we serve both in the project designing and application and contracting works. In addition, we maintain the works of a chain store project at the stage of corporate identity and concept. In addition to these works, there is a mobilization in the international works. In our business schedule, we have the office and showroom projects of a company operating in Jeddah city of Saudi Arabia in the field of production and wholesale of textile products.
