The Gumusluk Academy is an artists’ residence designed to bring together artists, writers, musicians,philosophers and scientists in a natural setting. It enables short and long term stays, and private studies as well as group work.

The Academy , owned by The Gumusluk Academy Foundation, is a non-profit organization. It is built on a 14000m2 of land, but its buildings use only 10 percent of that land.
The buildings include
a literature-house which is a complex of 10 housing units, a meeting hall and a library,
the studios, a complex of sculpture, painting and ceramics studios, a house for a resident artist and three housing units
a restaurant,
other housing units for short and long term visiting artists,
an amphitheater,
the architect’s house.

The design concept was the architect’s response to the uniformity of the whitewashed, blocky, concrete summerhouse complexes which he despised, covering the hills of this naturally and historically beautiful area of Turkey. He used different materials and forms in his design which blend in with the natural environment. Inspired by the layout of a typical Anatolian village founded on a slope, the architect also used the values that shape the texture of Anatolian settlements, where the church or the mosque was the only stone building and all houses were wooden.In the Academy, plywood was used for individual housing units which are of impermanent nature, whereas the common areas like the studios and the meeting halls were built of more durable concrete.

While designing the project the nature was foremost respected. It was even influential in shaping some of the forms of the design, as a result of which no single tree was cut down during the construction.

The Gumusluk Academy was finished in 1999 and since then it is being actively used for artistic and cultural activities. More information about their present activities can be obtained from their website.

www.gumuslukakademisi.org

1998

2000