Harbour Residences

01 Idea

A 48-unit apartment block on a Karşıyaka plot facing the bay: in ordinary examples of the type, the facade is either a flat sheet of glass or a surface crowded with decoration. We treated the facade as a usable layer instead. Every flat has a balcony 2.4 metres deep in front of it — a true outdoor room. The slab edges of the balconies and the slender posts between them set the facade’s rhythm; the shade comes from depth. The building is shaped by use, not ornament.

02 Space

On the typical floor, six flats are arranged not along a central corridor but around two cores, so every flat faces at least two directions and enjoys natural cross-ventilation. Living rooms turn to the bay, bedrooms to the quiet rear garden. On the ground floor, beneath an arcade along the street, we placed three small shops and a shared workroom for residents. The roof holds a communal terrace and vegetable garden — often the only place where neighbours get to know each other.

03 Material and construction

The reinforced concrete frame was set out on a 6.3-metre grid; balcony slabs are connected to the main slab with structural thermal breaks. The facade is clad in pale grey precast panels over mineral wool insulation, with a U-value well below the regulatory limit. Balcony balustrades are slender steel bars and glass, providing safety without cutting the view. Common areas have terrazzo floors and oak handrails. Inside the flats the specification is standard but restrained: single-colour cabinetry, oak flooring and concealed curtain tracks.

04 Light

On a west-facing elevation the real problem is the evening sun. That is why we fixed the balcony depth at 2.4 metres: on summer evenings the sun reaches the living-room glass only in the final half-hour. We left the balcony soffits pale so they carry light reflected off the bay deep into the rooms at midday. Every floor of the stair cores has a window; even waiting for the lift you can see outside. At night the facade reads as a grid of warm lights within the balconies — an understated lantern on the shore.