Istanbul Gülsuyu Cemevi and Cultural Center Competition Announces Finalists

Aerial Rendered View. Image Courtesy of TAG

Melike Altınışık and Gül Ertekin’s proposal has been selected as one of the finalists in the İstanbul Gülsuyu Cemevi and Cultural Center Competition. Hosted by Maltepe Municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, the competition asked participants to design a religious and cultural complex for the Alevi population (a religious minority group practicing Islam) that can serve modern society’s needs and honor past culture.

Aerial Rendered View. Image Courtesy of Melike Altınışık + Gül Ertekin

In the past 30 years, the movement of Alevis to urban centers has caused tension between history and modernity, and between the rural and the urban. As the scale of the Alevis’ religious buildings, known as Cemevis, has grown to meet new cultural and social needs, they began to lose the traits that defined them as religious buildings. This competition entry focuses on cultural sustainability, using Alevi culture and values as its inspiration. Humanism, modesty, socializing and a strong connection with nature and surroundings are the core principles of its design.

Interior Rendered View. Image Courtesy of Melike Altınışık + Gül Ertekin

A series of repeated modules express a differentiating of programmatically distinct areas, while maintaining the unity of the entire complex. The experience at street level and spaces to socialize are taken into consideration. Public spaces are created within the complex by a roof and terrace landscape with visual and physical connections within itself for people to interact.