İzmir Main Transfer Center Architectural Project Competition Concluded

The project owners, who ranked in the national architectural project competition organized by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality for the bus station, received their awards. Speaking at the online award ceremony and colloquium, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç SoyerHe said that this project, which is very important for İzmir, will bring a brand new face to the city and increase the comfort and welfare of the citizens.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, which adopts the method of selecting the architectural works to be brought to the city through competition, has finalized the national architectural project competition organized to transform the bus station in Bornova Işıkkent to the main transfer center. The winners of the two-stage national architectural project competition were awarded. First, second, third and five honorable mentions were awarded in the competition where 74 projects applied and 8 projects made it to the second stage. The award ceremony was held online due to the pandemic. The colloquium was also held digitally.

We acted with common mind

Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, who made the opening speech of the award ceremony Tunç SoyerStating that they evaluated the demands of the citizens for the renewal of the Izmir Bus Station, he said, “As soon as we took office, we started our work on these demands and we decided to build the bus station with an architectural project worthy of Izmir. Since our bus station project is an important project that affects the whole of Izmir, we followed a participatory and transparent method that cares about the inclusion of our stakeholders and people in the decision process.”

A brand new face to Izmir

Reminding that the bus station project was evaluated in detail by the jury, Soyer said: “The project is organized in detail in terms of pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle traffic, designed according to conditions suitable for everyone's access, the relationship established with the public spaces and the environment, and the compliance with the climate and geographical conditions of İzmir. Many details were evaluated by our jury. As a result of all the works we have done, our jury determined 1 projects, 74 of which are awards and 3 of which are honorable mentions, among 5 projects that we received in the first stage of the competition in June. I would like to express my gratitude to all of our contestants who add value to this project, which is very important for Izmir and will increase the comfort and welfare of our countrymen, which is very important for Izmir and will increase the comfort and well-being of our countrymen. I wholeheartedly congratulate those who were deemed worthy of the award, and I sincerely thank our jury members and colleagues who have worked hard in all processes since the beginning of this important project competition.

Thanks to President Soyer

The coordinator of the award ceremony, İzmir Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, Professor. Dr. İpek Akpınar stated that İzmir won a very good project after this competition. Akpınar said, “For the processes of obtaining projects for the city, for the city, with participatory methods, the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerWe thank you and your colleagues. We also witness that the projects obtained after the competition are not implemented in other provinces. You organized a competition that gives hope to the city, to the citizens of the city. We see the Izmir difference in the implementation of the competition projects. We look forward to new competitions. Both the people of Izmir and us colleagues are very profitable,” he said. prof. Speaking after İpek Akpınar's evaluations, President Soyer said, “We can't even think of not implementing the projects obtained through the competition. We will continue on this path,” he said.

"We held 3 architectural project competitions this year"

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality General Secretary Dr. Buğra Gökçe noted that they will implement two important projects that they had previously achieved through the competition. Gökçe said, “We have achieved our Evka -3 Transfer Center and Halkapınar Transportation Integration projects again through the competition. Implementation projects were prepared for the winners and included in our 2021 investment program. First we get the idea, then we get the application projects done and we bring the project to life within the framework of our possibilities. This year, we follow the same path in 3 competitions, namely the oliVelo Ecological Common Living Area, Meles Stream and Yeşildere Valley, as well as the Main Transfer Center. Our President Tunç SoyerWe thank you for the bridge of trust it opened to us. These projects will be implemented one by one,” he said.

Master Architect Nurbin Paker, the team leader of the project that was chosen as the winner in the competition, stated that while preparing the project, they aimed to provide a variety of usage for the city dwellers as well as being a transportation structure. Master Architect Hüseyin Kahvecioğlu, on the other hand, said that Izmir is a city with its traditions and acting with common wisdom, and expressed his happiness for the selection of this project and taking part in this project.

Here are the architects of the awarded projects

The project prepared by the team consisting of Master Architect Nurbin Paker, Master Architect Hüseyin Kahvecioğlu, Master Landscape Architect Damla Turan, Architect Hatice Ersoy, Master Architect Elçin Kara Vatansever, and Civil Engineer Bahadır Özcihan was chosen the winner.

The second prize was awarded to Architect Ömer Selçuk Baz, Architect Ece Özdür, Architect Atakan Koca and Civil Engineer Ahmet Topbaş.

The team including Architect Rıfat Yılmaz, Architect Burcu Sevinç Yılmaz, Master Architect Şerif Süveydan, Master Architect Sezer Bahtiyar and Civil Engineer Özkan Çalışkan won the third prize.

Master Architect Nil Bıçak, Architect Kemal Bal, Architect Erol Kalmaz and Civil Engineer Doruk Kemal Kaplan 1st Honorable Mention, Architect Hakan Evkaya, Architect Kutlu İnanç Bal 2nd Mention, Architect Ezgi Başar, Architect-Landscape Architect Neslinaz Aksu, Architect Zehra Aksu, Architect Ata Gün Aksu, Architect Zeliha Burcu Demirci and Architect Eren Gözde Anıl 3rd Honorable Mention, Architect Melike Kavalalı, Architect Berrin Erikçi and Nimet Değertaş 4th Honorable Mention, Master Architect Fırat Doğan, Master Architect Burcu Kırcan Doğan and Civil Engineer Önder Volkan Yaltıraklı 5. There were names who received the honorable mention.

All projects participating in the competition are published on anatransfermerkeziyarisma.izmir.bel.tr.

Who were the jury members?

In the jury committee of the Main Transfer Center architectural project competition; Prof. Dr. Haluk Gerçek, Tülin Hadi, Dürrin Süer, Mehmet Murat Uluğ and Boğaçhan Dündaralp took part. In the Consultant Jury Committee, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (İZBB) Secretary General Dr. Buğra Gökçe, İZBB Deputy Secretary General Eser Atak, İZBB Transportation Department Head Mert Yaygel, Koray Velibeyoğlu and Halil İbrahim Alpaslan were found.

Commissioned in 1998

Izmir Bus Station, owned by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, was built with a build-operate-transfer model and was put into operation in 1998. The operating protocol made with the bus station operation will expire in 2023. In the same year, the Ankara - Izmir High Speed ​​Train project and metro lines are expected to be completed by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. In this process, it is aimed to complete the implementation projects and construction tender processes of the main transfer center.