Aralık

Located within the historic urban fabric of Ulus, the 100th Year Bazaar is part of a layered urban structure that has witnessed different periods of the city’s development. Originally obtained through a competition in 1967, the building established an important urban threshold defining Ulus Square through the relationships it formed between Atatürk Boulevard and Cumhuriyet Street and the public passages running through it. Over time, as the city center shifted and the building began to be used beyond its intended potential, this permeable public structure weakened and gradually became inactive.

The project aims to restore this lost permeability and re-establish the bazaar’s relationship with the city by creating a new public void. While preserving the building’s reinforced concrete structure and its characteristic façade movements, areas that had been closed off or lost their function over time were cleared to form a new urban gap connecting Cumhuriyet Street and İnebolu Street. This void creates a fluid relationship between the existing programs of the building while simultaneously generating a new public space at the urban scale.

Within this void, new planes are introduced solely through structural laminated timber elements. Attached to the existing structure, this timber system establishes connections between programs such as retail, offices, cinema, and art galleries, while defining new spatial conditions in certain areas. Facing the Turkish Grand National Assembly — a symbol of the Republic’s foundation — the alternative stage volume extends toward Cumhuriyet Street, marking the presence of the newly created public void.

As part of the project, the building’s terraces are reconsidered as integral components of public life. The upper terrace is organized as a green public space connected to the office void, containing open work areas accessible to everyone and providing access to the alternative stage. Commercial functions within the office block are removed and replaced with a two-storey library, which is accessed through the timber structure and connected to the terraces. With the reconfiguration of the cinema foyer, a new lower-level terrace is defined as a public space that can host open-air screenings.

The characteristic canopy and structural system of the single-storey volume facing Ulus Square are preserved. To maintain the continuity of the axis extending from Ulus Square toward Gençlik Park, the façade of this volume is removed to create a courtyard that provides entry into the bazaar. The redesigned landscape along Atatürk Boulevard and Cumhuriyet Street forms a continuous and fluid public ground, strengthening the relationship between square, street, and building.