Esma sultan is a multi-purpose event space in Ortakoy, Istanbul, in the center of the city in a busy entertainment district on the banks of the Bosphorus.

Planting a glass and steel box inside the ruins of a palace to create a covered venue that constantly reminds us of the multiple histories innate in the new design.

The brick palace was built approximately 200 years ago for Esma Sultan, an Ottoman Sultan’s wife as a summer palace. Destroyed by fire over a century ago, the exterior brick walls are all that remain of the building. In 1999 The Marmara Hotel decided to adaptively reuse the beautiful land-marked ruin, keeping the walls as a framework and support for a modern interior space inserted within to create an event and exhibition venue. Commissioned to renovate and redesign the space, gad designed a thin but strong stainless steel and glass box that is suspended within the brick structure.

Glass buildings are often inappropriate in countries that have hot climates, however, the brick surrounds that remain of the palace made it possible for GAD to introduce this rarely seen architecture in Turkey, to Istanbul. The brick walls inadvertently create a shelter for the transparent glass box from the sun, rain and wind.

Multi-leveled, the new building incorporates a bar and restaurant on the ground floor and a conference room or event space on the second floor entered by a wooden and steel curved staircase. The glass box is tethered to the brick walls with suspension rods, which ensures the two separate structures remain equidistant from each other and can therefore withstand extreme weather conditions and earthquakes.

From the outside, the building gives the illusion that the palace remains in its original state. From inside, guests are reminded of the building’s former incarnation with views of the Bosphorus made possible though the original arched brick window frames. The building encourages comparison between modern construction methods with those of 200 years ago.

In association with Haluk Sezgin, Philip Robert, GAD

2003

/