OrfiSeraLooking at the design
and realization process of the project one can notice that the challenge was to
build up the perception of a firm through the ‘atmosphere’ it has and the ‘activities’
it hosts; instead of adopting a design approach which focused only on product
display and aimed for a space with only showroom function. Concept of ‘street’, ‘garden’ and ‘square’ were the key elements of the
design. One was entering a luminous hall thanks to the light coming from its
roof from a dimly lit existing showroom space. Naturally this was causing one’s
eyes to be dazzled. We thought about connecting these two spaces with a buffer
zone. In this way one could have entered to the luminous space with ‘slow’ but
‘balanced’ change of light after a curiousity awakening trip in a curvilinear
path. This has become the expression of the ‘street’ idea. On one side
our street we designed a brick wall
in which the holes of the bricks were laid horizontally. This wall, as seen
from the holes of the bricks forming it, gave mysterious information about the
space lying behind it. Moreover the street was illuminated with the light
passing through the holes of the bricks and thus its ground was showing the
lacework created by light. One full façade was
facing amazing cypresses. We wanted to make this facade more transparent so
that the exterior landscape could integrate with the inner space. Together with
the transparency concept; a sculptural olive tree in the space, few bambu’s,
ceiling ventilators circulating the air and a parrot reminding the tropical
forests became the expression of the ‘garden’
idea. Moreover we imagined a
central space where various activities such as meetings, presentations,
celebrations, plays, exhibitions, speeches can take place. We were inspired by
the piazza’s of Italy made up of unpolished natural travertine. We chose the
same material and used unpolished natural travertine in this central space
which became the expression of ‘square’. Last but not least, we realized that the
abundant light which the space was receiving and the green plants it was
containing made the space look like a greenhouse. This became the inspiration
for the name of it, ORFISERA; ‘Orfis’, the name of the firm and ‘Sera’, greenhouse
in Turkish.