Project Description
Istanbul Technical University Main Library
Concept Design, 2017
The design for a new Istanbul Technical University Library by GAD proposes a new information based program for the main university library but importantly envisions an innovative knowledge based design strategy for the Maslak, Istanbul campus of Istanbul Technical University. GAD’s Library design calls for an expansive structural system that provides an organizational rationale for the shelving of books as well the structure of the building that will serve as a model for the future growth of the university. The design centers on a system of arcades that join together generating the individual volumes of the building. The non-standard geometry of these arcades creates an organic experience of space and light bringing together the exterior and interior as one environment featuring an exterior roof garden emphasizing the role of nature in the daily life of the University. In this way the iconic design of the Main Library in the center of the Istanbul Technical University Campus envisions a holistic future where information, man and nature are joined together as one.
GAD’s design is based on an algorithmic generation of form that acts as an interface between information and structure. The expansive modularity of the system creates a liquid, organic spatial plan conducive to the flow of information in a new electronically mediated idea of the library as an interface between the library visitor and the universe of information. Students enter into this immersive experience picking their path through the library’s hybrid structure and programmatic volumes that define rooms and openings. The intriguing geometry of the Istanbul Technical University Library is based on GAD’s continuing research into the algorithmic structure of arcades emphasizing knowledge as the basis of the design and the Library as an innovative zone of the experience of form and structure as a 21st century idea of organic spatial knowledge.