Project Year: 2018 Location: Bursa

Type: Service Area: 66.500 m² Status: Completed

The Highway Project which will decrease the travel time between İstanbul and İzmir to 3.5 hours when completed in 2019, forms an important spine between two of the most important cities in Turkey. Our office was assigned to design 13 service facility buildings that reference the surrounding environment, concurrently have an architectural integrity as a whole, at certain intervals on this axis. One of these 13 stopovers, Oksijen68 – Gemlik represents the modular and flexible characteristics of these series of buildings.

Oksijen68 – Gemlik, together with other facilities situated along the highway, paved the way for realising a holistic and contemporary architectural conscious with its scale that allowed us to study each structural element down to its finest detail. With this aspect, we believe the building- hosting numerous visitors year round- holds a special place for our office and also the service facility building typology in our country.

The roof structure that references the surrounding mountain range with its geometric rhythm forms the wide canopy by stretching along the building and creates semi-open and open areas for the guests to benefit 24/7 through all seasons. This canopy with its solids and voids, defines multiple outdoor uses, while at the same time provides shaded passages between front and rear terraces of the facility. Being a space for transient experience, the building identifies as a “non-place” and has rather natural and neutral material finishes coherent with this character.

With its distinct height, the central building block which contains the main services of the building highlights its functional separation from the rest of the structure. The 10x10 m sales units that adjoin the main mass, offer flexible spaces that respond to changing requirements of multiple occupants. This modular layout also gives way to the future development of the facility.