TRANSITION BETWEEN URBAN VOIDS
In City 301 and City 302 course as a studio we worked on void urbanism. I wanted to examine the point where the "Green Wedge" meets the city of Ankara. The reason why I chose this topic was that there were "under-utilized and un-used" spaces in this area. While transferring this study to you, I will examine the conceptual framework, the spatial framework, and finally the design framework of the study.
First, I did conceptual research to clarify the problem in the area. Here I examined the relationship between void and urban open spaces. And, I saw that the activities at the moment are affected according to the qualities of the void. I examined the importance of the border condition of the space and the effect of the permeability of the void on the use of the space.
Than I examined the relationship of the "green wedge" with Ankara. As I mentioned before, in this void condition, at first, the Ankara steam has a geomorphological effect on the area. Therefore, in the first plans made in Ankara's history, this area was an empty reed as a wedge, and later on, it was deliberately left empty with the settlement of the Ataturk Experimental Farm (AOÇ). The "green wedge" is a border and corner for the settlements around it due to its physical shape. At the same time, the fact that it is a continuous void between the city and its periphery, that is, it creates a threshold, makes this condition very special.
Therefore, I preferred to examine the void condition where this wedge meets the city center.
Then I made a conceptual analysis at the point where the wedge meets the city. We can see that the project area is located between 3 different centers. But in the current situation, the connection between these centers is rather weak because there are many large unused voids in the study area.
If we need to summarize the situation, the project area is on a threshold between the city and the periphery and between the sub-centers of Ankara.
This section, I will share with you the research I have on study area. First of all, I wanted to make a border condition study in the study area. As a result of this review, the fact that the character areas in the project area are not permeable creates a negative effect on the movement of pedestrians on the area. This situation is both due to the un used voids of the area and causes these voids to form.
Than I examined the different character areas in the field. I tried to deduce from mobility between and within these areas. And I saw that most of the character areas are very restricted in movement, and we see that there are many access barriers. But, apart from these, the Youth Park, which is located in north of the area, is at an exemplary point in terms of permeability.
When I examined why the pedestrian could not move in this area, I saw that the biggest reason for this problem was that the character areas in the study frame were not permeable. At the same time, the wide main arteries passing through the area make the pedestrian paths very small, and sometimes there are no sidewalks, and sometimes there is a walking area for one person.
At this point, which I reached at the end while setting up the spatial framework, I reviewed the research I have done so far to reflect it on planning and design. I made this review on three different scales. As a result of this examination, I found it useful to have a threshold in the area, to have Ankara tea in the area, and to have a variety of character areas.
After the first two steps of my work and after making a synthesis, I determined some strategies related to the field. First of all, it is a continuous pedestrian road that does not break its integrity in the area. Because in this way, we can transform the existing concept of void into more useful and convenient voids. Then I thought that there should be a series of squares that can be used for different functions, as I aimed to improve mobility in the study area. One of the important strategies in the area is to make this space attractive to the user based on its location in the city and to make plans suitable for each user profile to do this.
Afterward, I produced a high-scale power line series in the area and determined the intersection points of these lines, and created a layout for the system in the area.
After creating a low order in the area, I constructed how this low order would relate to the city on a upper scale. While doing this, I developed a proposal to connect the actively used spaces in the city with the project area. And I created a master plan by adhering to these links.
Apart from the low order that I used when creating the master plan, I applied the concept of "threshold" to the field by removing borders and using topography.
While developing this proposal, I worked on the diversity and continuity of walking typologies in the study area. In this context, I created an urban grove that comes together with steam and trees. At the same time, while creating the main alley, I proposed a secondary path to plan how this flow will disperse within its field.
After making the circulation planning, I created a topographic infrastructure for the two stadiums that will be in the area and designed for viewing areas, namely the tribunes. These topographic levels also allows to different activities. It also offers the opportunity to create spaces of different typologies for the area.
