The Acarkent Condo is located in the Beykoz Municipality, one of the thirty nine that integrate the Greater Istanbul Region. With a perimeter of around 8km and an area covering approximately 2,5km2, it’s a gigantic private refuge for some of the wealthy people in Istanbul.
Its urban postulate is similar to those of the American suburbs of independent villas, offering a quiet family life at the edge of the city. Nevertheless, this vast compound, to which new additions are always being made, includes a diversified variety of housing typologies besides the villas, like four to five level residential buildings with smaller apartments and some office spaces in similar sized constructions. Another type of building that emerged in recent years was that of high-rise apartment blocks. If the first two towers were built at the highest point of this hilly urbanization, a second set of three residential sky-scrapers started to be developed a few years ago, at its lowest point.
Its size and location is totally unexpected as it closes the natural system of views towards the central Istanbul skyline and blocks the views of hundreds of houses on the hills behind. Maybe this is one of the causes why its construction was put to a halt and, after more than six years, no one has ever come to live in the luxury apartments it encloses.
The contrast between the three level villas and the towers is overwhelming, which break, in the worst way, the monotony of the pastiche architecture around.
It’s unknown to us if the reasons for the stopping of the construction relate with legal matters – it would be strange giving that the construction is almost finished and permits must have been given before – or with the non-acceptance of other residents which saw the value of their property decrease due to the blocking of the views (the average price of the villas is around 2.5 million USD).
These three empty buildings remind us of the TAT towers because they are nearly finished and probably won’t be used nor demolished in the near future. Like in so many others of the Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul, they will linger and left to decay in front of everyone’s eyes.
It is our opinion that such project was never adequate for its place. As mentioned earlier, its volumetric impact in the low scale housing environment doesn’t consider a balanced approach to the territory and existing urban setting. But the reality is that they are already built. So either they should be removed or used, in the benefit of the citizens.
We conclude by raising the same question we did in previous articles: shouldn’t politicians and citizens demand concrete solutions for such a mistreatment of urban space?
The set of articles under the name “Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering” being prepared and shared by ARKollective, aim to raise awareness over a very common phenomenon happening in Istanbul and in many major cities around the world. To read more about large abandoned buildings in Istanbul and ideas that might change their condition, please check our previous posts:
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – Hotel Bulding in Şişhane
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The Botter Apartments
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The Sancaktepe Towers
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The TAT Towers
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The Merter AVM
Abandoned buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The Bostanci AVM
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The GPIH
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The Botter Apartments
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