COALESCE / EDANUR DİŞİBÜYÜK

Sivas is a city with strong historical references and a clear urban structure; however, its contemporary civic buildings often remain distant from everyday public life. Municipal buildings are generally perceived as closed and hierarchical institutions, which limits social interaction and discourages public use. This project challenges this condition by proposing a new municipal complex based on the idea of extending into the public realm.Rather than designing a single monumental building, the project is organized as fragmented and interconnected masses that gradually open themselves to the city. The municipality does not remain inside fixed boundaries but extends through squares, ramps, bridges, atriums, and public stairs, allowing administrative space to dissolve into civic space. The project is named “Coalesce” to describe this merging of public life, administration, and urban movement. The site is structured around a central public square, which functions as the main mediator between the city center, the university axis, and the riverfront. This square is not only a gathering space but also a spatial connector that links the municipality building, the plus function, and commercial and recreational areas. Public circulation is intentionally drawn through the project, encouraging people to pass through rather than avoid the municipal complex. The municipality building, arranged over three floors, places public service units on the ground level and more controlled administrative offices above. Transparency, visual connections, and open circulation reduce the institutional distance between users and the building. The plus function, containing workshops, café, and social spaces, is positioned at the public edge of the site and designed with layered levels and sloped surfaces, enabling different uses at different heights. A folded plate roof system unifies the masses while allowing variations in height and light, reinforcing movement and continuity across the site. Through its spatial strategies, the project transforms the municipality into an open civic landscape, where architecture actively spills into public life rather than separating itself from it.