The military architecture and police station structures of the Ottoman Empire period; are cultural heritages that have served civil education since 1953-54 and provide important clues about the historical and cultural background.
Within the scope of the competition; the ITU Faculty of Business Administration Building, which was planned to be designed for the Maçka Police Station, which was built as an additional structure to the Maçka Weaponry Building during the period, should be considered as an additional structure in the context of today's 'contemporary' architecture, and should be seen as an opportunity for the architect to exhibit a stance and approach towards cultural assets. In other words, the subject of the competition is much more than just the implementation of architectural functions (the quality of being a faculty building), it is the issue of 'how to exist next to the Police Station Structure, which is a cultural heritage'.
The first approach decision given within the scope of the project was based on this idea, despite the maximum height limit given within the scope of the competition and the existing faculty building; both to show respect to the historical structure and to strengthen the relationship established by the Faculty of Business Administration Building, which is located at the intersection of the campus and the city, with the built environment (-when approaching from Beşiktaş, the urban texture, the topography of the land and the building heights are almost the same as the Karakolhane Building) the Karakolhane Building is to keep its height level and not to rise. In addition, in the context of respect for cultural assets, it can be said that it was decided to keep the facades blank in the project in order to create a backdrop for the Maçka Karakolhanesi, which faces Süleyman Seba Street and Bayıldım Street, and to highlight the structure. In line with this decision, it was thought that the new faculty building, designed to be compatible with the fragmented texture of the city along Suleyman Seba Street in the direction of Besiktas, would be fragmented (turned into a finger/comb plan) and its blind areas would be fragmented, and despite this, it would remain calm on the Bayildim Street facade, behind the Police Station building, and the attention would be drawn to the historical structure in the full sense. The second basic approach decision given within the scope of the project was shaped upon the determination of the situation regarding the lack of public space and meeting places where students can spend time on the campus. In order to strengthen the connections that can be established with different levels within the campus and in transportation to the campus, in other words, to strengthen the pedestrian flow, the elevation of the frequently used cafeteria building, that is, the currently most intensive social space usage level, was transformed into a semi-closed-semi-open space where social spaces and all pedestrian flow are gathered in the project, the ground level of the building was emptied, and this situation was determined by designing the 'Faculty Square' as a socialization area at the intersection of the campus and the city, and the campus was provided with a public semi-closed-semi-open space. Thus, it is obvious that the concepts of 'permeability', 'being closed to the outside-inward', which are among the basic approach issues addressed in architecture, are accepted as an important input of the design, especially in public spaces ('Faculty Square' serves this purpose within the scope of the project) in educational and even higher education buildings. It would not be wrong to say that this public area, where all pedestrian flow of the city and the campus is gathered, is the ground level of the building (-9.00 level, which is determined as the ground floor level of the Police Station Building within the scope of the project as 0.00 level), and that it has the characteristics of creating a hierarchy and being a buffer zone between the private area (classrooms, lecturers' rooms), public area, and semi-public area on the scale of the building. The canteen is designed as activity areas including semi-closed and semi-open seating areas where the canteen serves, central photocopy, stairs to be used as an open amphitheater, student clubs, table tennis, and exhibition units.
In the structure where the ground floor is completely emptied and transformed into a social space, it is desired that the columns touch the ground as little as possible, and the load-bearing structure of the building is designed as truss system trusses along the 3-storey floor height above the ground and reinforced concrete curtains and frame systems are designed at certain points and composite systems are used on the basement floors.
In addition to the two basic approach decisions mentioned above, in the context of the formation of the building form and the placement of functions;
In the Faculty Annex Building Specific;
Both the recession of the structure according to the existing trees in the area; and in the classrooms, issues such as concentration problems, sun control, and sound control were taken into consideration and a multi-courtyard mass structure was created that was introverted, sheltered (looking at their own private areas), and received relatively indirect light. The rooms of the teaching staff were positioned at the interface that intersects with the city.
Although the facades of these functions, which are functionally fragmented units that give a facade to the urban texture, are outward-facing compared to the classrooms, it was found appropriate that the mass form is combed and the spaces look at the spaces designed in the mass (they are in a relatively specialized structure). In summary, this public space, which is the connector between the city, the campus and the building mass provided by the designed Faculty Square, is designed as more introverted space structures when it passes to the private areas. Therefore, it can be said that the public-private space transition presented in the relationship established by the mass with the city is also provided in the interior space structure at the building scale.
Faculty Square at the Cafeteria interface;
In the Armory, Police Station Buildings approach and the campus lower level open parking lot approach, by creating a mouth in the mass by making the gradual floorings of the amphitheater classrooms in the mass building program felt from the outside, it was thought that the building would respond to the issues of creating an introverted attraction and drawing attention within the campus, and thus strengthening the pedestrian flow to the Faculty Square.
In addition to the Conference Hall's strong relationship with a collapsed courtyard designed in the 'Faculty Square' where all the levels are gathered,
it was designed at the lowest level of the area, -13.50, in a way that it would be directly related to the vehicle entrance and parking lot entrance, considering its outward use. In this way, it can be argued that the faculty building's functional transitions regarding day and night use were also provided.
In Specific Regarding the Historical Police Station Building; The bridge connection between the designed additional building and the historical building, which is currently established with two floors, was found to be appropriate to be reduced to a single floor in order to provide access to the Faculty Square designed in the project and to provide a more permeable pedestrian flow from all directions of the area. Thus, the additional faculty building was connected from the Karakolhane entrance level -which was also accepted as the 0.00 level in the project- and the permeability between the -4.50 level and the -9.00 level of the Faculty Square was strengthened. On the upper level of the bridge, an access that is not directly connected to the Dean's Department (without a closed passage) but can be connected to the open area was designed, and this connection was also associated with the academic staff's rest room and their private inner courtyard. Considering the historical nature and atmosphere of the building, both from the outside and inside the campus, it was decided to expand the library function included in the competition program and to expand it on the axis and as an extension of the Turkish Academy of Sciences Library located in the Silahhane Building. In line with this decision, the service units designed as archives and reserve areas were located at the -3.00 basement level of the Karakolhane Building, and the Dean's Office function was left alone at the +4.75 level of the Karakolhane Building, and the Library was decided to be double-height, and the library study areas and special research areas connected at the 0.00 level were located.