City of Contradictions | Istanbul 2015

As architects and designers, we tend to derive inspiration from our travels and everything from architecture and people to cuisine finds a place on our drafting boards. So we make traveling essential, by observing places and cultures different from ours and challenging our own ideas to find new solutions and ideas.

Istanbul – a cultural melting pot, a bridge between Europe and Asia, a meeting point between East and West where cultures have coexisted for centuries. All classic descriptions you already heard about. What about its fascinating contradictions, how did all this different cultures come together while many of their monuments remain intact?

We had come to Turkey on an architectural pilgrimage in order to discover how Istanbul came to be this magnificent city.

Like its food and culture, the urban landscape is blending ancient Greek and Roman constructions to Byzantine and Genoese domes and arches, Ottoman mosques, palaces and castles, European Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings and modern glass structures making it a place for the senses, a constantly changing kaleidoscope of unforgotten eras.

Today Istanbul is a megacity in rapid growth that tries to embody the challenges and solutions for a sustainable existence, and despite all the problems it has proven itself to be well-functioning, managing to convey the intellectual excitement of brilliant design. From the anonymous house, built with a natural feeling for place to today’s highly civilized architecture you can see a continuous strive to advance by arousing interest and understanding the importance of good architecture design.