In the post-war districts of İstanbul, Zeynep Ayşe Hiçşaşmaz Heitele discovers a new roof spanning an old fish market that brings together the upheavals in the oriental city of the post-war era and and architecture “with a modern wink” – a project that is exemplary in its taken-for-grantedness and simplicity.

Those who want to discover the oldest districts of İstanbul must visit the historic peninsula, those who want to experience the Western influences must go to Taksim, Pera or Galata. But those who are interested in understanding the developments in the decades after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic should go to Kadıköy, Levent, or Beşiktaş. Here, new plannings have transformed older ones resulting in a specific cityscape – the İstanbul of the 1950s.

This cityscape is clearly from all those that have arisen in post-war Germany – there are neither reconstructions nor mass housing developments and no urban landscapes. Instead, one finds reinforced concrete constructions with an oriental touch that draw on the timber construction they have superseded in many instances. The result is a densely built city with narrow streets.

In such an urban situation, near the old pier of Beşiktaş, a recent intervention can be discovered: the new fish market designed by GAD – Gökhan Avcioğlu. The İstanbul-based architects have inserted in the urban fabric of the 1950s their pavilion-like construction standing in a triangular plaza.

At first sight, this interventions leaves an impression thanks to its aesthetic qualities while at nearer inspections further peculiarities can be discerned. The construction is a shell-shaped roof rising out of the ground from three points that symbolizes the alliance of land and water. The stainless steel counters with their rounded, tiled plinths in which a cooling system has been installed are, so to say, the mother-of-pearl of the shell-shaped roof while the scales of the fish, the fresh fruits and vegetables, and the colours of the flowers represent the pearls. 

On a broader level, the new fish market represents the culture of the travelling salesmen that is a typical feature of İstanbul – a culture that is ephemeral and open, appropriating and using the urban space while also being elusive. Similarly to a kiosk (a word derived from the Turkish köşk meaning “little castle”) that over the course of the day interacts with the public space in many ways the new market enters into a dialogue with the neighbourhood and the people gathering there. The market is open from all sides so that all the merchandise offered under the roof can be perceived from manifold perspectives in the everyday use.

The intervention may be a modest one but it succeeds in delivering a contemporary interpretation of a cultural peculiarity of İstanbul – the topic of merchandizing in the public space. The street vendors can here offer their goods as appetizingly, sanitarily and under as modern lighting conditions as the chain markets in the great new shopping malls that have been erected in the surroundings of the old city centres. Thus, an important aspect of the project comes into view: its engagement with the city’s cultural heritage and its capacity to compete in a globalized commercial situation.

Fakten
Architekten GAD – Gökhan Avcioğlu, Istanbul

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aus Bauwelt 43.2010
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