Comments on: Meydan shopping square by Foreign Office Architects

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:29:29 +0000

I should say that (to korhan mainly) “Meydan” is basically a persaian word and means square; a public space for gathering, marketing, and social activities. It is not Turkish. And I think because it is also used in turkish and Farshid Moussavi is Iranian, so it is a proper name…

By: Partan

Partan — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:49:53 +0000

Looks a little bit too much like the Yokohama airport,
with the landscapy bits..

By: korhan

korhan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:58:41 +0000

architecture&building

I am from İstanbul and I have to mention that this building is an “innovation” for İstanbul. It should be mentioned that shopping mall investments in Turkey are attractin many local and foregin investors into Turkey and nearly all of the projects are just like closed boxes. Verbal section: shop unit-corridor-atrium/gallery-corridor-shop unit. This building cracks this concept for İstanbul..

“Meydan” means square, piazza in Turkish, should also be perceived by the eyes of ordinary citizens of Istanbul who are never heard of Yokohama city. One of them says it is good to breath fresh air while shopping. In fact the effect and concept of this mall is just simple..Also it is the first time a mall is developed which should be accessed without security guards and X-Rays at the entrance area. This shows also social and cultural attitude of this project.

When the details evaluated of course photgrapher only pictured nice vistas.. Below coverings of the “green shell” are not closed properly. Hardscape bricks are started to turn into white under heavy rain..

By: rese

rese — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:30:30 +0000

been there, not bad work but there are better buildings in Istanbul and this place is in Istanbul but not downtown, I think Kanyon is a better example for an open air shopping mall..

By: openminds

openminds — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:46:09 +0000

good discussion here! i’m not sure yet if i should like this project or not… well its not a project anymore its realiszed… for me its not that close to yokohama… its only the photographer and some small construction details with the rails/lighting… the way they work with space is totally different… where they questioning the mall? hmm… not really imho they just replaced the mall idea with a mall/market mix idea…

if this is perfect for site and context… imho not but im not living in istanbul so im not to one to finally judge it

By: esra

esra — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:41:51 +0000

neden özellikle türbanlı bayanların fotoğrafı çekilmiş anlayamadım.Türkiye’de sadece türbanlı bayan YOK!!!!!!

By: pap

pap — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:27:56 +0000

hello azhar,congrats…..i love it…. simply because as this site proofs its an architectural project thats loaded like eastwoods rifle,…it triggers far more discussions beyond todays so over evaluated architectural stylistic language, questioning the typologie of the mall and delivering maybe not the best but fairly the freshest answer seen lately,…cu

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 11:39:46 +0000

i agree with Ab :

istanbul is an enormous city, and this concept would be much better suited to a more densely populated site. the forms and spaces created are obviously suited to create situations for large amount of people at once, which i doubt will ever be the case in a low sprawl/slum context such as this project.

surround this thing with tall buildings and high-rise residential or mass transit points, and you are starting to come closer to realizing the full potential of this low, undulating, multilevel piazza idea.

aside from that, i have to give some credit to FOA for attempting to redefine the market typology, and creating something aside from the “boxes in a field” idea of a mall. while still a little too awkward for my taste (and still regurgitated yokohama), they are being pretty innovative here…

By: M

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:34:35 +0000

Well executed, but I wonder if FOA question the program and brief of this vast site?

Which also raises the question, is architecture becoming less and less site and cultural specific and more and more image conscious?

By: Gunner

Gunner — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:01:58 +0000

Too much site, and not enough program or context to work with. The scale of the “piazza” is way to large, (greatly exacerbatred by the massive ramp leading to it) and it has a terrible relationship to the buildings. The result is superficial aesthetic gimmics which attempt to recapture a human scale. Definately an interesting and unique composition but doesnt seem to be grounded in much logic. How does this thing grow or develop? Its definately not good enough or smart enough to be timeless. On a more picky note, I hate these railing and lamp details. The lamps look like magnified hair follicles, on the testicle that is this project.