TURKISTAN MEDIA CENTER

The winner of “Turkistan Architect Awards” in Media Center category, this project seeks to create a high-tech building complex for media, tracing the evolution of Islamic architecture elements to their modern interpretation; its intention is to establish a dynamic center designed for editing and transmitting accurate information simultaneously contributing to the cultural development of the society.

Considering as the starting point a rectangular prism, we studied its creative transformations through a focus on the ‘arch’ as the main architectural element.

The regular shape of the four-storey building is enlivened by the entrance space. The glass organic shape of the main entrance facade is formed by two lateral convex arches, culminating in a concave central shape, designed to represent “information flow hub”.

A series of metallic “ribbons” wrap around the surface of the structure horizontally and they are being transformed in four ascending parabolic arches, ensuring a monumental entrance.

The crescent footprint on the entrance floor symbolizes another main feature of the Islamic world and can be found repeated on each floor as a slab’s gap. Following the crescent-shape of the foyer, we placed a curvy perforated panel on the back of the reception desk which reaches the ceiling of the roof and serves to separate the reception area from the rest of the ground floor.

There are three cores of vertical connections of the floors – 2 staircases (scenographic and service stairs) and a block of elevators placed at the central parts of the building to grant an easy access.

The architectural concept of the transparent glass façade directly reflects the functional solutions on the interior space. Daylight penetrates the heart of the building through the transparent glass walls acting as an independent material to participate in the design of the building.

The facilities have been divided into three functional zones smartly distributed throughout the building’s levels according to the type of the activities. The public functions of media center are placed primarily on the active ground floor creating a direct connection with its external visitors which can utilize the features of a spacious lobby, conference hall, cafeteria, service desk and an exhibition space expandable to a multi-functional area. The upper levels host the office areas and the studios for audio-visual media production. Adjacent to the closed compact studios there are the open-plan office areas spread on each floors of the building available for use to the various city’s TV and radio channels.