Media Plaza: An example of the transformation of the modest newspaper buildings into large media centres

Abstract

Within the scope of the study, the Media Plaza Building, which was designed by Mehmet Konuralp, is discussed in the context of transforming media in Turkey. As a result of the neo-liberal economic policies implemented in the 1980s and the technological advances in the communication sector, Turkey underwent a radical change in its political, economic, and social spheres. The Babıali press also lost its traditional structure and turned into İkitelli press which is a media business that was shaped by free-market principles in the 1990s. While newspapers were previously managed by journalists in the historic core of Istanbul, large media groups took over the press and relocated them to the outskirts of the city. Undoubtedly, this change was not unique to Turkey. The old newspaper printing houses in Park Row in Manhattan and Fleet Street in London, for example, were abandoned and the new media companies moved to high-tech media buildings in their new locations. The transformation of the press into media echoed on its architecture. Traditional, modest printing houses in the historic city, had been replaced by flamboyant media centers in İkitelli district towards the end of the 20th century. Especially with the rise of computer technology and improved printing facilities, new media centers emerged. Sabah was the first newspaper moved to its headquarters to İkitelli. Constructed between 1987 and 1990 the Media Plaza exemplified newly emerging media buildings around the periphery of the city both symbolically and architecturally.