Gravier Residence is a century old residential building located in Cihangir, a bohemian area in Istanbul. Coming back to life through restoration, we were lucky to be commissioned for one of the appartments. We got excited. With respect to and without interfering with its past, we had opened up space to comply with the contemporary living standards.
Whilest appreciating its value, we embraced its masonry brick walls, vaulted ceilings, gypsum ornaments, old floor tiles and the wooden paneling. We added necessities with our own interpretations to fulfill the contemporary needs of its new tenant.
We chose not to lay down the tiles provided by the restoration team to their previous spot of kitchen floors, as if they were still existing. Instead, we created a board using the tiles and hung it on the wall.
We didn’t come up with a built in kitchen and just installed it. Alternately we created modular pieces and placed them around. In the bathroom, we removed the clawfoot bathtub so that our client would be able to have a quick shower without flooding the bathroom everyday. In order not to interfere with the bathroom floors and the wooden wall panels we designed and produced a modular free standing shower box and placed it on wheels installing it with flexible hoses allowing easy cleaning by creating a moveable shower tub. Additionaly we did not built in a wc and sink but placed freestanding ones.
We didn’t try to recreate, but chose to blend in. We took cognizance of our apprehensions and our ethical perceptions. Refusing to take the easy way out, we added our own point of view in respect to the appartment’s history and future.
We searched for a solution to fulfill today’s functions and aesthetical understandings, which can also come into existence with the old, acknowledging and accepting the essence of the building’s era without contradicting.
What we were trying to achieve was to co-exist with the old. While being there, without harming it, saying “you just stay here and we’ll settle by and we can keep on living together”. The term ‘we’ is not representing our ego, but purely reflecting the present time and us living in it.
Location: Siraselviler Cihangir, Istanbul Building type: 90sqm residential appartment Design: ofist – Yasemin Arpac / Sabahattin Emir Project manager: Goksen Gungor Photographs: Ali Bekman Wood works: Tayfur Somer Iron works: Sen Metal Tiling works: Oktay Yegin Paint works: Ali Aksu Plumbing: Fuat Kir Electrical works: Gulay Elektrik Glass works: Gedik Cam
