İstanbulites to decide which design project to be implemented in Taksim Square

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM) has announced that the jury session for the Stage 2 of Taksim Urban Design Competition has been completed. "3 equivalent prizes and 5 equivalent mentions have been selected among 20 projects," the İMM has indicated in its statement.

While 146 applications were made to the competition, the urban design project to be implemented in Taksim Square will now be chosen by the İstanbulites among the equivalent designs.

The Taksim Urban Design Competition was held in cooperation of the İstanbul Planning Agency and the İMM Department of Cultural Properties. The competition was finalized on September 20, 2020.

After a preparation phase for nearly six months, the competition was announced to the public on March 2, 2020. While the competition covered Taksim Square, Gezi Park and its surrounding area (of approximately 160 thousand square meters), it was held in two stages.

The main jury of the competition consisted of Zeynep Ahunbay, İpek Akpınar Aksugür, Arman Akdoğan, Can Kubin, Arzu Nuhoğlu and Kerem Piker as well as Manuel de Rivero and Rainer Schmidt.

146 applications in total were made to the first stage of the competition. While 72 of the teams were from Turkey, 48 were from other countries and 26 teams were mixed. Developing their projects based on the recommendations of the jury after the first stage, the projects of 20 teams were evaluated again in the second stage.

While five of these projects have been granted equivalent mentions, three have won equivalent prize. In the upcoming days, a vote will be taken by the City Council and people will decide on which of these three projects they like most. The citizens who want to vote will do so with their ID numbers.

The following three designs will be voted by İstanbulites:

Bünyamin Derman and his team:

Kutlu İnanç Bal and his team:

Şerif Süveydan and his team:

(AÖ/SD)