Natura January - February 2014 | Page 57

SEKIZ ARTI MIMARLIK VE SO? MIMARLIK BITLIS’IN YEREL VE TARIHI DEĞERLERINE UYUMLU BIR TASARIM ÖNERIYOR. SEKIZ ARTI ARCHITECTURE AND SO? ARCHITECTURE OFFER A DESIGN RESPECTING THE LOCAL AND HISTORIC VALUES OF BITLIS. composed of boutique restaurants offering traditional tastes, local workshops, production and retail units, an information center for visitors and a multi-purpose hall for the municipality are all included within the design. These functions are proposed for integrating the town square with the environmental and architectural context and for offering an infrastructure for sustainable yet innovative economic transformation of the area. The project, respecting the topographical and geographical context of the site, safeguards the existing architectural fabric primarily in stone and offers new building blocks in a contemporary language that encourage public and commercial use of the area. Bridges and water elements integrated in the design refer to the Bitlis River running through the city that gives Bitlis its character. The newly conceived radial building units that are oriented towards the valley and terraces, facing the historic Armenian village, represents the strong relation that the project establishes with the natural and historic context. This consciousness is emphasized with the use of natural local stone as the main building material. While Basalt stone is used for the pavement other natural stones originating in Turkey’s east such as the local Urfa stone and Ahlat stone are used for the new buildings OCAK - ŞUBAT 2014 / JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2014 • NATURA 57