Designing urban rooms in Istanbul Bosphorus city – water – land interface alternative urban interior recommendations

Abstract

This thesis aims to find solutions to the problems of insufficient utilization of the coastal area of Istinye by the local population, the vanishing maritime culture, and the lack of adequate spatial interfaces, from the perspective of interior architecture. The hypothesis is that mobile living units/urban rooms produced by interior architecture will positively influence the interaction between urban residents and the coastal area, providing integration. Interior architecture, as a branch of architectural perspective, has become one of the essential needs in recent times' design processes. This need has brought along many challenges, creating diverse habits and various searches over time. Users now expect to encounter different experiences in diminishing land areas where living spaces are decreasing day by day. In this context, we should start by considering Istanbul, our geographical location in this thesis. Despite being surrounded by seas, sea usage in Istanbul has declined over the years. Even though Istanbul is surrounded by seas, the usage of the sea has decreased over the years. The rate of entering the sea has significantly reduced, beaches have emptied gradually, and the coastal strip has lost its functionality. Despite this, there are still many areas in Istanbul that are suitable for revival. Designers and municipalities have embarked on new quests in this regard. Some efforts to revive the lost maritime culture have yielded results, while others are still in progress. Further research, scientific studies, and design efforts in this area would be highly beneficial for reviving the lost maritime culture in Istanbul and guiding future projects. Various guidelines have been followed in the thesis process to focus on sea usage. This thesis suggests that new design approaches can emerge on the chosen region and modular spaces can be created on the urban-water-land interface from the perspective of interior architecture. In line with this goal, the İstinye region was chosen through research. Interviews and various analyses were conducted in the region. The understanding that the design should consider users' needs and serve a specific purpose was reached. Socio-cultural and socio-spatial analyses conducted in the region selection process prepared the ground for choosing the right area. In this process, the thesis was divided into four stages. The first stage consists of the introduction section that defines the purpose and scope of the thesis. This section includes the reason for selecting the topic, the research question, the hypothesis, the aim, scope, and methodology of the thesis, with detailed explanations. Subsequently, the history and detailed descriptions of floating structures, starting from their historical context, were provided under the topic title. Giving importance to maritime culture, which has a rich history, various inferences were made for design. After providing information about the transition from terrestrial settlement to settlements on water, selected examples of floating structures were presented from Turkey and around the world, chosen with a specific purpose in mind, to shed light on the study. At the end of the analysis of each of these examples, common and distinct points were analyzed, and diagrams were created for better understanding. The inferences drawn were oriented towards the function and form of the design. Subsequently, the common features required for floating structures were examined based on the drawn inferences. The second part of the study concluded with the narration of maritime culture that has survived from the past to the present. In the research section, labeled as the third chapter, information was provided about coastal districts and their interaction with the coastline in Istanbul, on a smaller scale. The usage of the coast and the Bosphorus were studied, examining areas left inactive, areas open to renewal, and areas that could become unusable due to coastal fillings. The project area was selected by narrowing down the scope, and reasons for the selection were explained in detail. Interviews were conducted with selected individuals to determine the user profile and potential functions. The focus was on appealing to the majority and ensuring continuous usage in defining the functions where the opinions of the local population were taken into consideration.