The format and supplies of conventional Turkish buildings knowledgeable the US Embassy in Ankara, designed by New York studio Ennead Architects to “stability openness and safety”.
Situated on a 3.6-hectare campus within the new central enterprise district Sögütözü, the constructing contains a chancery, safety guard residence and group services.
It takes the type of a sequence of rectilinear, stone-clad types, damaged up by three inner courtyards and surrounded by landscaped gardens that Ennead Architects has used to average ranges of entry and privateness.
“Classical Ottoman structure was a significant inspiration and level of departure,” Ennead Architects companion Richard Olcott instructed Dezeen.
“Particularly, we regarded to the work of Mimar Sinan, the famend Sixteenth-century architect liable for designing a lot of Turkey’s most iconic buildings,” Olcott continued.
Amongst Sinan’s buildings that have been used as a visible reference was the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, which is “a fancy of many buildings with a steady sequence of courtyards, gates, and thresholds”.
“That typology and method of sequencing – shifting from public to extra non-public – informs our design strategy to the diplomatic campus,” defined Olcott.
Set again from the road is an “arrival plaza” with timber and planting, supposed to melt the boundary between the embassy and town.
Here’s a slender pavilion to manage entry that bisects the location, alongside extra gardens and a patio shaded by the golden travertine-clad overhang of the chancery.
“The positioning plan creates a proper organisational construction for circulation throughout the campus, progressing from public to non-public as one strikes additional away from the road,” Ennead Architects principal Felicia Berger instructed Dezeen.
“The slender constructing is an entry pavilion for all embassy guests. It’s the entrance door of the campus, and as such, presents an essential representational picture welcoming guests, employees, and dignitaries alike,” she continued.
A big courtyard on the centre of the chancery constructing acts because the embassy’s main social house. It’s lined by gridded concrete partitions knowledgeable by conventional mashrabiya screens in Islamic structure to permit gentle and air to cross via.
On the rear of the location are extra non-public areas, together with the safety guard residence that can also be buffered by the landscaping wrapping the location.
The interiors of the embassy are designed in collaboration with New York-based structure studio Spacesmith and, very similar to the outside remedy, deal with the usage of native and conventional supplies.
“Utilizing native and conventional supplies for this diplomatic facility is a option to materially convey two cultures collectively, representing American values whereas referencing the wealthy architectural traditions of Turkey,” mentioned Berger.
“A fabric palette of Marmara marble, travertine, heat woods, ceramic tiles and pops of turquoise reference most of the wealthy supplies out there throughout Turkey,” she added.
Ennead Architects is a New York studio previously generally known as Polshek Partnership, which was based in 1963 by James Polshek.
Alongside engaged on the US Embassy in Ankara, it has not too long ago accomplished the refurbishment of the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine in Manhattan and developed a proposal for Wuxi Artwork Museum.
The images is by Scott Frances.
