SUB-COMMONS

SUB-COMMONS reclaims the “Right to the City” by transforming the underground of Basmane, İzmir into a counter-public space for collective action. At a time when public spaces are increasingly privatized, controlled, and reduced, the project moves the search for visibility and public voice below the surface—creating a new public ground under the city.

Located within Basmane’s dense transportation network, the project redefines the underground as more than a space of transit. Instead of being only a passage, it becomes a place to gather, discuss, learn, and express. Infrastructure is no longer only about movement; it becomes a platform for participation. By establishing physical and visual connections to the Kültürpark axis, the project expands public space both physically and symbolically. The relationship between surface and underground creates continuity, allowing the hidden layer of the city to become active and visible.

The program works as an interconnected public system: Counter Assembly, Rights Thresholds, Public Pulse Radar, Urban Crisis Laboratory, Counter Square, Resistance Archive, and Underground Free Media spaces allow people to debate, share ideas, produce content, and raise awareness. These spaces are designed not only to represent participation but to make it possible.

Here, the underground is not a place to escape, but a place to face urban issues. Suppressed voices are heard, spatial inequalities are revealed, and collective memory is preserved. Space becomes action. Circulation becomes gathering. Rather than proposing a new building object, the project proposes a new way of using infrastructure. It transforms hidden space into shared space, transit into interaction, and the underground into common ground for public voice.

Total Built Area: 11,100 m²
Total Circulation Area: 7,000 m²
Underground Levels: 4 Primary Public Levels Technical Infrastructure Layer

Strategically embedded within the existing Basmane metro network, the project transforms transit infrastructure into an active public ground. The underground system is physically and programmatically connected to the Kültürpark axis, extending the public realm below the surface.

PROGRAM COMPONENTS

The 11,100 m² program operates as a multi-layered counter public space including:

Counter Assembly (700 m²), Counter Square (680 m²), Counter Library (800 m²), Urban Crisis Counter Laboratory (600 m²), Public Pulse Radar, Rights Thresholds, Common Rights Manifesto Zone, Memory of Resistance, Inventory of Public Loss, Counter Art, Counter Free Media, Urban Counter Studio, Echo Chamber of Dissent, Counter Acoustic, Free Exhibition Areas, Archive, The Unmuted Stage, Contestation Area, Revive Hub, Communal Kitchen, Administrative Offices, Security and Technical Mechanical Rooms.

Circulation (7,000 m²) is conceived as a continuous public loop, encouraging interaction, encounter, and collective movement across levels.

STRUCTURAL SYSTEM & MATERIAL STRATEGY

The primary structural system consists of reinforced concrete frame systems, directly aligned with the structural logic of the existing metro infrastructure.

Exposed brut concrete surfaces ensure material continuity with transportation infrastructure, reinforcing the project’s tectonic relationship with the underground context.

Strategically integrated steel structural elements enable large-span spaces and spatial flexibility within assembly, performance, and laboratory areas. This hybrid system supports modular adaptability and long-term programmatic transformation.

DESIGN APPROACH

The project redefines underground space as Counter Public Space. (Sub-Commans)
Structure, materiality, and circulation operate as extensions of the metro system—shifting the perception of underground from transit void to collective agency.

Designer: Melek Aksan
Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ülkü İnceköse, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ebru Yılmaz, R.A. Ceren Ergüler