Pop Up Park İstanbul
How can we use tradition as a facilitator to transform monofunctional public spaces into collective, multi-functional, and value-added spaces to create more inclusive, livable, and greener cities?
Pop Up Park Istanbul is a research by design and doing project seeking to find an answer to the question of how the public spaces in busy contemporary cities can be designed, programmed, and used.
“Pop Up Park Istanbul” seeks to overcome this problem by connecting the design and use of public spaces with local cultural traditions, bringing the sense of community common in rural life to modern city life. The main objective of the project is to give back public space its true meaning, its raison d'être to help create a more livable, inclusive, and sustainable city.
The design concept takes its inspiration from the traditional Turkish tea gardens, a place for social gatherings with friends and family under the shade of trees. We designed a moveable park which not only brings green into the city but also creates the opportunity to show how public space can be used multi-functionally. By making it moveable we created an interactive continuously changing public space. It invites the users to make a connection between them and the public space, to create a sense of involvement with their own environment and therefore a shared feeling of responsibility.
Within the design concept, all of the seating, lighting, and table elements are designed as movable elements. The measurements of the modular elements are in accordance with the social distancing rules brought by the pandemic.
The seating and lighting elements also function as tea gardens which contain 9 different medicinal and aromatic herbs like Sage, Lemongrass, Stevia, and Rosemary. You can enjoy a fresh cup of tea by grabbing a leaf and putting it into a cup of hot water and enjoy a quiet moment within the bustle of contemporary city life. The lighting elements are designed with solar panels, to provide a green, sustainable, and safer gathering place also at night.
The users determine how to interact and use the public space. Come together with friends and socialize under the shade of the trees, enjoy a cup of fresh herbal tea while waiting for the boat, play games or move a chair, and just enjoy the view. It’s up to the user what experience they would like to have here.
*This project was created in cooperation with our Dutch partner Space Crafters. We were one of the 4 selected projects from Turkey for StimuleringsFonds Open Call: Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Morocco, funded by Creative Industries Fund NL.
Project Designer & Manager: Tuğçe Akbulut
Architect: Jurgen Ten Hoeve
With the kind support of Beşiktaş Municipality
Photos & Video: Mail Murad
Video Editing: Serkan Arslan
Illustrations: Serhat Aksu
Book Design: Tolgahan Akbulut
Impact Assessment: Simla Akbulut