Inegöl Municipality Building

1st Prize 

İNEGÖL MUNICIPALITY BUILDING & PUBLIC SQUARE

İnegöl is the second biggest province of Bursa, has approximately 250.000 population including 50.000 students. İnegöl is also one of the biggest industrial centres of Bursa, exporting furniture to the world. The city has expanded fast and let in immigrants intensively in the last decades. Mild Marmara climate is observed in the city. İnegöl is a modern town with its commercial activities, wide streets, parks but also maintaining a deep-rooted and traditional character in the field of furniture production.

The city centre where the commerce and residential areas mix is located on the north side of the project area. While dense and irregular urbanization is seen in the centre areas, on the south along the Adnan Menderes Boulevard where the site is located, the density seems dissolving. Around the project site, the city expands fragmental, together with the healthcare, cultural and educational facilities. Dense city centre barely has large green space, whereas the clock tower and the statue square next to the project site, creates a starting point for the green corridor reaching to Hikmet Sahin Culture Park on the very south of İnegöl.

The project site is located on the intersection of Ataturk Boulevard, the main commerce axe and Adnan Menderes Boulevard which surrounds the city. Around the site, educational areas exist mainly, and this situation provides a very young and dynamic daily life. The green areas begin from Hikmet Sahin Culture Park on the south and tails off by the statue square near by the project site. Therefore, the site holds much potential and has capacity to become secondary city centre due to its engagement with the daily life and the green areas.

The continuous green corridor that starts from Hikmet Sahin Culture Park on the south and ends by the statue square on the east side of the project site had a huge determining role on where to locate such a building as municipality. In this manner, the building is design along with the design of the open spaces and open space is continued in the project as a public square surrounded by the public facilities that is also a part of the given programme.

The plot that hosted a hospital previously is app. 22.000sqm and has various grown trees. After demolishing the hospital building, groups of trees seem scattered in the site, making it easy to trace what was there before. The initial idea is designing a building that leaks between existing trees instead of destroying the greenery of the site, building a centre to be used effectively. The building programme includes a municipality building as well as café, restaurant, kindergarten and multi-purpose hall. A municipal building supported with the public facilities provides a huge advantage for the people who could visit this complex throughout the day.

Especially the layout of the ground floor provides an easy and spacious visit to the visitors of the municipality building and blends with the landscape design in the open areas. Landscape design also offers alternative spaces for the people who are there only for the open areas.

The relation between inside and outside is considered as the main challenge in this project. Also, positioning of the building that leaks between the existing trees is another critical issue. The building is surrounded by groups of trees on east, south and west direction which helps building to be naturally climatized during hot summer days and operating costs will be decreased. During winter days, when trees drop their leaves, the building can benefit from the sunshine. The filigree façade wraps the building like a frame. The shadows of the trees and the frame façade are reflected in the building differently, therefore the natural and the artificial exist in the building at the same time. The building offers moments that the user can experience interior and exterior blending in together.