178 To soften the large, cold architectural shell, Autoban inserted an inner shell of wood into the Savoy Ulus clubhouse, a 1,700-m2 sports and entertainment centre that is part of a residential complex in Istanbul. By inserting one structure into another at the Savoy Ulus clubhouse, Autoban demonstrates the power of architecture and interior design working in tandem. WORDS Shonquis Moreno Nesting F104_p178-192_Case_Study.indd 178 23-03-15 13:46 CASE STUDY 179 P ho t os Ali B ekman Season F104_p178-192_Case_Study.indd 179 23-03-15 13:46 180 CASE STUDY Shell within a Shell Coloured drawings made by hand show the interplay between the concrete shell, created by architect Emre Arolat, and Autoban’s intervention. By placing a warm wooden structure (the ‘inner shell’) inside Arolat’s cool glass-and-concrete structure (the ‘outer shell), Autoban cleverly fleshed uto the building. F104_p178-192_Case_Study.indd 180 23-03-15 13:46 181 1 2 3 eriors 4 5 6 ine Int erline F y of B es t ur o os c t ho P INa city where modern design is still in Wood its contours while articulating the warmth that its adolescence, Istanbul studio Autoban has Arolat had merely promised. thrown down the gauntlet to progressive Turkish Panelling ‘We didn’t want to lose the sensation designers. Autoban’s aesthetic influence on the provided by the concrete structure or its beauty,’ interiors of this morphing metropolis’s restaurants, 1 says Özdemir. ‘In fact, we wanted to emphasize nightclubs, hotels and boutiques has become Craftsmen at the Berline factory in Tuzla, it.’ Yet they needed to make the spaces functional Istanbul, used MDF supports to determine significant since partners and former classmates and comfortable. Autoban’s goal, therefore, was to the heights of the faceted wall panels. Seyhan Özdemir and Sefer Çağlar founded the follow the design language of Arolat’s architecture, studio in 2003 (partner Efe Aydar joined in 2007). letting neither shell dominate the other and Known for creating materially lush spaces, the 2 ensuring the integrity of the whole. ‘We wanted to When the heights had been established, the practice is seeing its work increase in scale and combine his asymmetric architecture with an inner artisans manually installed each plywood sophistication, as evidenced by the completion facet at the required angle. wooden shell comprising harmonious irregular of the stone, wood and tree-sown innards of components,’ he says. ‘Creating a dialogue the Arup-designed Baku Airport VIP Terminal between the shells was critical.’ in Azerbaijan; and the smaller but noteworthy 3 Concrete can feel chilly, and as the space The facets are glued together. Each of opening of the Savoy Ulus clubhouse, located the 32 unique triangular floor panels and 08 allowed daylight to enter from just one side, the closer to home in Istanbul. Savoy Ulus, which wall panels was CNC-milled to the interior was at risk of succumbing to both literal shares Baku’s abundance and simplicity of prescribed dimensions. and metaphorical darkness. ‘A clubhouse is, by graphical form, is a residential estate designed definition, a gathering point, and this one is in a by architect Emre Arolat. Autoban’s contribution 4 residential complex; most of the people who use to Savoy Ulus – the interiors of a 1,700-m2 sports The 4-mm brushed veneers – made from the facility live there,’ says Özdemir. ‘When they and entertainment centre – includes communal American oak, walnut, wenge and Turkish visit the clubhouse, they should still be in their maple – were glued onto a plywood substrate functions such as a café, a library-cum-lounge and comfort zone. They should feel at home. The only with a natural adhesive used in yacht fitness areas. construction. In each panel, the veneers way to generate a warm, friendly ambience is Arolat designed the clubhouse as the were inlaid in different directions. with interior design.’ Autoban’s interiors enjoy an hub of a residential compound that was to active engagement with the architecture, whose accommodate diverse lifestyles and living 5 unique geometry spawned all the forms and all spaces. Meanwhile, the architecture itself Triangular panels for the café vary in the materials chosen by the designers. Arolat’s had to accommodate the site’s emphatically height from 120 to 300 cm and extend from textures and radial patterns and those of the irregular gradient, to which it responded with an the concrete walls at distances between new interior – a nest within the architecture rather 30 and 100 cm. emphatically faceted embrace and a building of than decoration grafted onto it – intersect and cool concrete and glass. Formwork made from softly collide. narrow planks left an imprint of woodgrain on 6 In the café, panels of oak and maple – the concrete walls, hinting at a warmth that is An advantage of Autoban’s layered – or triangles of different shapes and sizes – are inlaid nesting – approach to construction is extra never fully expressed in the building. By nesting with wenge laths. The resulting faceted elements space between inner and outer shells; layers a wooden micro-architecture (the ‘inner shell’) and protruding elements provide the depth boldly protrude from the walls. The floors, though inside the glass-and-concrete skeleton (the ‘outer needed to conceal mechanical systems. flat, have a radial parquet pattern that suggests shell’), Autoban fleshes out the building, echoing both depth and motion. Each veneered panel F104_p178-192_Case_Study.indd 181 23-03-15 13:46 182 CASE STUDY Large triangle-patterned wooden tiles on the lounge floor eaf ture two patterns in American oak and walnut. F104_p178-192_Case_Study.indd 182 23-03-15 13:46 183 F104_p178-192_Case_Study.indd 183 23-03-15 13:46 184 1 2 3 P ho t o S er gio Ghetti 4 5 Mixed Materials Architect Emre Arolat added a trace of nature to the cool glass-and-concrete building with formwork made from narrow planks, which left an imprint of woodgrain on the concrete walls 1 . Taking a cue from Arolat’s woodgrained concrete, Autoban used wood veneers as the primary material for the clubhouse interiors 2 . In the café, wall panels of American oak and maple are inlaid with wenge laths 3 . In the lounge, the floor has an irregular pattern composed of triangular tiles made from American oak and walnut 4 . Flooring in the swimming- pool area is made of a local marble in two shades of beige 5 . looks like a collection of narrow wooden planks into historical interiors, but over the course of time that converge with, bisect and traverse the ghostly they began layering textures, functions, patterns, planks of the concrete, producing a larger, more materials, forms and stories. ‘Layers make the vociferous, pattern. These walls and floors – space richer,’ says Özdemir. ‘By adding elements anchored to the concrete by metal braces that leave ‘People like to and narratives, we offer new experiences.’ a distance between inner and outer shell – form In the case of Savoy Ulus, each panel had a floating layer within the architecture, beneath feel some sense to be modelled digitally in 3D and drawn again ceilings that yawn upwards, from 3.5 to 6 m. of boundary. An in a 2D program. Instead of building a complete ‘Psychologically, people don’t feel comfortable or scale model, they opted for a 2-m-long section safe in really big spaces,’ says Özdemir. ‘They like enclosed space at full size. Take the café, for instance, where to feel some sense of boundary. An enclosed space every triangular panel is unique: each angle, each at a human scale satisfies that need.’ at a human dimension is unlike all the others. The panels Autoban’s layers are often discernible and scale satisfies cover the lower walls, from the floor to a height a pleasure to discover: Gaspar, a restaurant they that varies from 120 to 300 cm. They protrude designed in Istanbul’s Karaköy neighbourhood, is a that need’ from the walls at a distance that varies from 30 to collage of overlapping wooden panels that extend 100 cm. Project leader Müge Çakır Değirmenci from the walls at various distances. When Autoban reaffirms that the inner shell is ‘created from was just getting started, the designers paid little the architectural contours of the building’, while attention to the layered interventions they made stressing that the arrangement of panels also F104_p178-192_Case_Study.indd 184 23-03-15 13:46 CASE STUDY 185 establishes a channel between the two shells, another two kinds of marble on floors with non-slip which conceals mechanical systems such as surfaces. The iridescent hues of mosaic tiles used lighting, electricity and even bar equipment. to cover the floor of the pool itself glisten in the The designers selected wood – veneers sun, changing colour with the angle of the gaze. made from American oak, walnut, wenge and In the lounge, the floor has an irregular Turkish maple – as their primary material in pattern that continues on the lower sections of the belief that the building’s cool environment some walls, which rise between 5 and 6 m, but needed a warm, natural balance. The height almost imperceptibly at first glance. Large triangle- of the wooden shell also addressed potential patterned wooden tiles create semaphore-like acoustic problems. They augmented the graphical imagery that consists of two motifs made in two appearance of the concrete shell by using two types of wood, subtly accentuating the floor. At Autoban addressed the high ceiling in the colours of wood on floor and walls, achieving its centre, displayed prominently in a glass-and- lounge area with an enclosed space-within- sufficientontr c ast to underscore the architecture’s a-space: the library.