World Architecture Awards 10+5+X Submissions

DESCRIPTION
Nexus is a self-sufficient, sustainable public library that is located in Alsancak, İzmir.
The name Nexus comes from the fact that it was designed as a common point, a project that brings people together from a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds in Izmir. And become the connection point of public life in the city.
PROJECT AREA
The Project area is 15.000 square meters and is one of the dense areas of Izmir, containing two historical buildings and protected centuries-old palm trees. Since the location of the land can be considered at the center of the public transportation network in the city, parking was not included in the project design in order to encourage users to use public transportation.
Since there is a pedestrian density in the surrounding area and the streets are not suitable for vehicle traffic, an underpass proposal had been prepared around the land.
The project consists of two ramps, one end of which extends to Kıbrıs Şehitleri Street and the other end of which extends to the tram stop in that area, and 6 floors located where these two ramps connected. Each floor has a square form and is 289 square meters. In the building layout, a gallery space of approximately 170 square meters were used in the middle, and the functions of the floors were distributed from the ground floor to the upper floor in a more silent way. The facade design of the building has been designed separately on each facade, in accordance with its rotating form, and a distribution has been created to receive light in a sunny city like Izmir, while also consuming the least amount of energy for cooling. Thanks to the solar panels on the roof of the building and on the interfaces formed as a result of rotation, the library can produce the annual electricity needs of approximately 82 households.
FORM OF THE BUILDING
The mass was placed in the middle of the empty spaces in the site so that it was equally distant from everywhere and not stay under the shadow of surrounded buildings. Two extensions directed to the dense areas at the ends of the field were added to the square mass. The mass is extruded 28 meters to get more sunlight and the extensions are turned into ramps with spaces under them with 4m of height at maximum to welcome people from both sides. In order not to interrupt the pedestrian transportation, the connection of the main mass with the ground floor was cut off for 4 meters. The floor was pushed down to prevent claustrophobic feeling on the ground floor of the building by not making the building any higher and disturb city’s skyline. Then the mass is rotated and an atrium putted in the middle of the square mass to get the best sunlight. Lastly, the facade covered the building to control the light entrance of the building and controlling the heat.


TECHNICAL DATA
Location: Izmir/Turkey
Total Project Area: 15000 m2
Project Site: 8000 m2


STRUCTURE
The core of the project includes 2 elevators with reinforced steel walls and reinforced rotating concrete filled steel tube columns located in the middle of the floor surface. Cassette flooring was used to allow large openings in the structure

SOLAR RADIATION & DAYLIGHT
After the optimization, annual solar radiation value increased .5 from 590 MWh to 658 MWh. To achieve this increase in value, the rotation of the building was increased and the skylight on the top was reduced. As a result of these processes, the surface areas that can fully receive sunlight have been increased.
As a result of the annual optimization, the annual value increased from 2002306 to 2170157, reaching the maximum result. Thus, thanks to the new façade, a sustainable building was built by getting maximum efficiency from daylight.

PROJECT TEAM
Designers: Bensu Beliz Meskener, Melek Aksan
Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Berk Ekici, Res. Assist. Berkay Batuhan Bostan

PUBLIC GROUND is a castle square, marketplace and a municipality project located in Eğirdir, Isparta, Turkey. The project aims to transform the currently degraded, undefined public square and transform it into an attractive gathering place with respecting to the cultural heritage of the town.

The current form of the town is the result of the construction of a causeway which links the two islands to the main shore. After the completion of the causeway the waterfront changed drastically as a result of accumulation of silt that was carried by the currents. The town’s urban fabric has been altered many times by fires. Today the town presents a rich collage of the incremental changes and the city square became undefined upon these changes. The PUBLIC GROUND deals with the redesign of the town hall. It connects two shores of the lake and the castle gate to the city square within the inner street.

The municipality building is made up of a dispersed structure that has been meticulously interwoven, particularly at the levels that are connected to the ground. The wide spaces created between the building blocks help to clarify functional distinctions and establish relationships, while the fragmented structure aids in packing functions in areas that suit their demands. The structure formation, urban and building circulation, and landscape all work together as a single entity.

Also, PUBLIC GROUND aims to connect two significant city historical sites: the Eğirdir Castle and the Hızır Bey Mosque, by creating a circulation path as well as connecting the two shore lines by the inner street through the municipality building.



Location: Eğirdir, Isparta, Turkey
Programme: Defining the castle square, marketplace and designing a municipality building
Designer: Dicle Doğa Karakaş
Instructor: Yiğit Acar

The project proposes a new scenario for the manufactured landscape of Giali, a small uninhabited volcanic island in Greece with one of the world’s largest pumice mines. Giali is included in the Natura 2000 Network and declared a Protected Landscape of Natural Beauty, but two mining companies operate in four locations. The royalty fees mining brings to the nearby island of Nisyros are the biggest source of revenue for its Municipality. The excavations started in the 50s and have a specific time frame, but no plan has been proposed regarding the island’s development. Due to this mono-cultural economy, Giali is at risk of eroding away. Within the future climate goals, Nisyrians decided to prevent further exploitation of unrenewable resources and reclaim the mine sustainably. The project focuses on utilizing Giali’s geothermal energy through an architectural program in which energy production and the bathing element have the leading roles.

Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source in the form of heat generated inside the earth and has many applications in various industries. The geothermal power plant is a heat hub that produces electricity for Nisyros, meeting its needs. Its waste heat is consumed directly at the bathing facilities, just as geothermal sources are used by different cultures for purification and relaxation. According to a cascading system, the spaces are arranged depending on their heat and humidity requirements, creating a hybrid where all the senses are stimulated.

The primary source of inspiration for the building’s morphology was the pumice stones found in Giali’s southwestern part. Pumice is a volcanic rock whose main characteristic is its porosity. Accordingly, the building is porous, with cavities overlooking the external environment and subterranean rooms that house the private areas. The spaces began to be formed by carving the landscape, with water flowing into the cavities and crevices that emerged. The building is integrated into the topography and, at first sight, remains hidden. The steam emitted by the power plant’s cooling towers invites people to discover it, intensifying the overall experience. On the inside, bathers move from small intimate spaces to larger ones and vice versa, until the bathing sequence is completed, gradually bringing them to a state of calmness.

The proposal explores the connection of the plant’s industrial character with the stimulating aura exuded by the baths, and it is in harmony with the "genius loci," highlighting the site’s unique atmosphere. It also differs from the standard mine reclamation practices, mainly including topsoil placement and reforestation. In this project, a combination of three design approaches is applied. The first one seeks to engage the public and the local communities and educate them about energy production and consumption in the present age, mining, and future land use by designing the info point, power plant, and exhibition. The second one focuses on utilizing Giali’s rainwater and clean, renewable energy resources with environmental responsibility to reduce energy and resource inputs. The third one suggests rehabilitating the location for public and recreational amenities, namely electric utilities, walking trails, and baths.

The project highlights the architects’ social responsibility and proposes a sustainable scenario for the area's development and self-sufficiency. It also raises awareness of critical environmental and energy management challenges. The approaches can act as catalysts in solving critical issues and positively impact the region's socioeconomic future. The project could trigger a series of new interventions related to Giali, Nisyros, and other neighboring islands.


The total built area is 1650sqm. The building is formed by excavating the manufactured landscape and the retaining walls are constructed to hold the ground. After the site has been prepared, the utility lines are installed, and a reinforced concrete foundation is poured. Then the floor and walls are formed on site, moved to place, and the roof structure is constructed. The building has a structural reinforced concrete frame, and the weight of the soil above it has been taken into consideration, too. Waterproofing and insulation on the exterior have been installed, as well, to withstand the ground’s moisture and pressure. Part of the excavated soil is reused on-site for landscaping the surrounding area. Subsurface and surface drainage are also dealt with, despite being underground. Due to solar benefits, the building has a southern orientation that allows the penetration of sunlight in the interior. At the same time, through the atriums and skylights, the spaces are naturally ventilated while maintaining the visual connection with the external environment.

The three main geothermal plant types are Dry steam power plants, Flash steam power plants and Binary cycle power plants. The operation of a Binary Cycle Power Station is the preferred solution for Giali because its volcano is inactive, it has no new magma to affect the hydrothermal system, and the risk compared to Nisyros is negligible. The binary cycle plant is suitable for areas where the geothermal fluid has a temperature of less than 180°C. They use heat from the fluid (steam, water, or a mixture of these two) to boil a secondary working fluid (usually pentane, butane or isopentane) with a low boiling point. After absorbing heat, it vaporizes and enters the steam turbine and generator, expanding and producing electricity. The geothermal fluid and the secondary working fluid do not come into direct contact, so the binary cycle arrangement allows the use of chemically impure fluids, such as the ones found in the field of Kos-Nisyros, which in other cases, would create deposits and damages to the piping system. The reinjection of brine into the reservoir reduces sedimentation due to changes in soil pH and minimizes the environmental footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. Also, the area needed to operate the geothermal power plant is smaller than wind and solar parks.

The power plant is placed in an artificial cavity measuring approximately 27 by 27 meters, giving visitors the opportunity to observe the operation of the equipment from above. It is accessed from the ramp to the west and has a 14% gradient, allowing small trucks to pass. The cooling towers and primary pieces of equipment such as turbines, heat exchangers, condensers and generators are located on the exterior space of the binary cycle station. The electric current is sent from the generator to a step-up transformer which has already been installed close to the mine in the southwestern part of Giali by the mining company. The transformer's voltage increases, and electricity is transferred through underwater power cables to Nisyros' homes, buildings, and businesses.

The power plant’s waste energy is consumed directly at the bathing facilities to heat and cool spaces and pools through a central plate heat exchanger installed in the engine room and an underfloor heating-cooling system. To achieve additional energy savings, the building’s different spaces are organized according to a cascading energy system, where the position of each depends on its energy needs. The plant’s waste energy first passes through the programs with the highest energy requirements on Level -1 and then is directed to the colder areas and pools on Level -2. A vertical shaft has been designed next to the main engine room to pass cables and piping.

In addition, the project employs rainwater harvesting and utilization methods, which save significant amounts of water. Rainwater is collected and flows to the underground storage tank through the pipe system without the consumption of additional energy. The tank is located under the changing room and can be visited to be cleaned. The available water is transferred from the tank with the help of a solar pump and a small photovoltaic unit. It is used for the building’s needs in the toilets, washing machines, irrigation and even in the showers or some swimming pools.

For the construction of the building, the local pumice rock is used as a component of the reinforced white concrete in combination with other admixtures. Giali’s natural pumice stone is also employed as a lightweight aggregate in the building’s plaster acoustic and insulation tiles. Natural pumice stones are used to clean swimming pools and exfoliate the body in the exfoliation room, too. Some external courtyards are planted with native plants (scrubs, frygana, pines), while others are lined with slip-resistant outdoor tiles. The walls are plastered with mortar suitable for wet areas, creating a subtle texture, and the slip-resistant floor inside the pools is lined with pebbles. Pressed cement mortar is applied to the rest of the flooring, and it is visually integrated with the concrete of the walls. The hot surfaces that come in direct contact with the bather's body, for example, the sauna, are made up of wood because it is a good conductor of heat. On the contrary, the hammam’s surfaces are covered with tile to preserve the air’s humidity. The building’s glass surfaces (the bottom of the entrance pool, skylights, and windows) are transparent, but the central atrium’s floor-to-ceiling windows are opaque, so sunlight penetrates inside. Still, there is no visual contact with the spaces behind them, only creating a play of shadows with people's movements. Finally, metal details can be found in some features, such as the railings of the staircases.

The materials are meant to be stained with water and aged with time. The design is robust, contrasted with delicate features. Water is the essential medium that transforms and connects all the building’s elements, creating transparencies, sounds and reflections. Water shapes the atmosphere by taking different forms, giving each space a unique quality.

Supervisor: Evelyn Gavrilou

The project materializes an architecture characterized by the reception of movement guided by rhythm. Where the rhythm consists of the manifestation of continuity, in a game of appearances and disappearances arranged by a pattern. Rhythm therefore establishes the way in which elements are experienced throughout the passage through space. Consequently, the link established between architecture and the person is essential, order will be the main catalyst of rhythm. For that reason, the walker experiences and expected recurrence, an anticipation of re-experiencing what was presented to it just a moment ago.

“Rhythmic models, in addition to providing continuity, lead us to anticipate what will come next. Any fracture of the model announces and underlines the importance of the disturbing element or interval” (Ching,2015)

That said, the spatial arrangement and its relationships occur according to the movement of the body in space, which at the same time adopt an overlapping pattern, creating an effect of movement, that is placed on par with the path of the passerby. This arrangement progressively reveals the landscape, turning an apparently hermetic space into a permeable one. Added to this, there is a variation of verticalities and depths of visual leaks, where open and compartmentalized space come into conflict.

In this line, the construction of the space is developed from elements segmented into three levels that progressively close or open in such a way that the light and visibility to the outside varies as the space is passed through. In this way, the relationship between spaces is direct, free and optional. The rhythm guides but does not impose, it gives the guidelines and offers itself freely for experimentation.

This type of architecture was established in the Belén neighborhood of Bogotá, the second neighborhood to be founded in the colonial conformation of the city. The Belén neighborhood is currently categorized as stratum 2. An urban center characterized by its grid-shaped layout that delimits the structure of the layouts of the area. But in the Belén neighborhood, however, it is interrupted by the shaping of bodies of water that today no longer exist in the territory but whose emptiness remains as one of the limits of the neighborhood. Paradoxically reflecting the disconnection of Belén with the urban center.

For this reason, an axis of pedestrian activity is proposed between metropolitan roads where architectural projects act as pulleys, building axles or belts that activate flows and build nodes of permanence in the neighborhood. The project seeks to create a plaza that infiltrates soft areas into the neighborhood and builds a pedestrian continuity as a passageway, taking advantage of the alley that leads to what is now Carrera 2a towards Avenida of Comuneros (Calle 6).

The limits of architecture define in this project a multiple corporality, marked by the conjunction between spaces of double and single heights. Alternating between monumentality and the compression of simple space. The closed and open space in a system of strips that make up the classroom and the patio in a system of alternations.

The project is configured from three articulated volumes. The first, - the core - the monumental space, which functions as an urban finish, where a slow circulation operates, the space simultaneously functions as a large open space of community character and connector in the verticality of the project. The 'finishing' in turn operates inside, in which it dispenses the route to a linear circulation axis that distributes to the previously mentioned strip systems.

The spaces of the complex are conditioned by order and repetition; therefore, the light also sets a pattern: light-shadow-light-shadow…… on the elements on which it is projected. Along these lines, the overlap between the panels contributes to blurring and disassociating the visual opening with the opening that gives entry to the lighting. In other words, the void between the elements configures the trace of an intangible, impalpable, yet one sensitive to the experience constituted by light.

As far as this is concerned, the seclusion that the curve establishes in the project, and added to the topography of the eastern hills of Bogotá, the terrain is sculpted to form a public stand that is depressed and that consequently reiterates in the relations spaces that are offered to the user through triple, double and single height spaces.


The complex establishes a compositional agreement between the strips that determine the spatial distribution and the portico systems that follow the formed grid. Additionally, the structure is complemented by screens and retaining walls due to the topography of the foothills of the Andes Mountain range where the project is located. Which allows the project to have underground levels that, when opening to the amphitheater that is depressed, have an open façade towards it, diluting the feeling of cloistering and allowing the entry of good lighting.
The curvature of the project requires the need for a ribbed plate that acts together to bridge the great distances inherent to the open-air amphitheater it covers. Which allows open and flexible spaces for the upper floor to levitate without interrupting the activity of the urban amphitheater.
Finally, at the slow circulation core, the main space of the complex intended not only for passing circulation, but also giving rise to walking as an activity so that the older adult feels the climb as a vertical spatial journey, this core is located in the front part of the mostly linear complex, which leads to this segment forming a visual finish in the urban context.
The core of ramps is essentially a space of rectangular proportions with four large columns in its corners and another four thinner ones in the center. However, to save the large spans, small metal pillars are located along its perimeter limit to support the shelves that make up the façade. This façade is made up of three segmented levels where rotated brick panels are located that, when overlapping, create the desired light effect. These panels allow the pillars to be hidden and revealed, in this way the structure establishes a game of appearances and disappearances throughout the passer-by's ascent.

Design: Danna Valentina Padilla Pérez
Tutors: Rafael Villazón, Alvaro Bohórquez, Carolina Concha,

Roundtimber Eco-Duct acts as a proposal for a Welcome Center on Georgia Institute of Technology's campus, and acts as both an outward facing representation of the innovative work completed at the university as well as a student occupied classrooms space. This is in an attempt to immediately ingrain visitors with the everyday goings-on of the student population. The project uses the AIA Framework for Design Excellence as a means to situate the design in the greater context of climate equity and honoring humanity, which the project accomplishes through a host of ecologically driven design principles.

Designed as part of research to create an optimized balance between embodied carbon and operational carbon, the Roundtimber Eco-Duct is a structurally experimental welcome center for prospective Georgia Tech students. Designed as a research studio project into low embodied carbon structural systems, the structural system takes inspiration from a thesis by Dr. Aurimas Bukauskas of MIT, who gave consultation on the feasibility of the system. Expanding on the work done by Dr. Bukauskas, variations on roundtimber compound columns that geometrically solved the issue of racking, were the driving force of spatial layout as well as the overall structural grid design, and digitally fabricated roundtimber models give experimental credence to the hypothetical embodied carbon calculations.

Cove.tool analysis shows a projected final EUI of -2.98, owing to the large scale insulative and habitat regenerative turf roof, as well as digitally fabricated roundtimber solar carports offsetting energy needs. The regenerative roof provides insulation as well as collecting rainwater and growth zones for native plants as well as the pollinators that coexist in these spaces.

Calculated to be a LEED Platinum project acheiving 87 points of 110, as well as a Living Building Certified project, local materiality is a driving force in acheiving these certifications. Sustainably managed Southern Yellow Pine tracts operated by the Georgia Forestry Foundation 60 miles south provide a carbon sequestering alternative to the carbon intensive usual practice of concrete construction.

The Roundtimber Eco-Duct combines all of these ecological strategies to seamlessly integrate visitors with the existing student population while giving a small taste of the innovative technological efforts being undertaken at the university.

22,500 sq ft
46,000 sq ft of onsite permeable surface
18,100 sq ft of Monosilicate Solar Panels

87/110 LEED points
82/100 WELL points
Estimated 669,000 kilograms of Embodied Carbon (15.9kg per sqft)
Estimated -26,450 kilograms of Operational Carbon per year

Estimated time to become Net Carbon Negative: 25.29 years
Devin Lohman

Supervisor- Howard Wertheimer, FAIA