Abdullah Gül Presidential Museum and Library, Kayseri

Sumerbank Textile Factory, built in 1933 by a group of Russian architects led by Ivan Nikolaev in Kayseri, has been one of the most important symbols of industrialisation and modernisation move in Republican period in Turkey. After its shut-down in 1999, the industrial complex, consisting of the buildings which are unique examples of Russian Constructivism, has been left abandoned inside the city until its consignation to Abdullah Gül University to be transformed into a new campus with educational and administrative facilities. Transformation of the existing buildings is driven by the approach which is aiming not to alienate them by regarding them untouchable nor to over-intervene and damage the existing character. Thus, the buildings are functionalised as they can sustain their existing qualities and enhanced with contemporary additions or removals. These conservation principles maintain its validity throughout the old power and steam building renovations which are converted as the Abdullah Gül Presidential Museum and Library. It is quite important for the authentic industrial buildings for its patine composed in time to be preserved and the traces of its period to be contained while exhibiting its layers. In these circumstances the interventions aimed for conservation are planned to incorporate the necessary repair and renovation procedures vital for building physics while preserving the existing suitable components. The buildings are regarded as a whole with all the layers added to them in time, as a result a certain effort was given to refrain from a restoration process that will bring forth any certain period rather than the existing condition.The elements that are to be included according to the scenarios of contemporary daily use in addition to the preserved and partially adjoined existing fabric, as a principle, are followed by the traces of the existing buildings and also by employing contemporary materials where the integrity of the existing industrial atmosphere will be established.

Abdullah Gül Presidential Museum and Library, Kayseri by Emre Arolat in Turkey won the WA Award Cycle 23. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.