RE-SYMBOSIS / MERVE ÖKTEN

This project is situated along a river corridor in the urban center of Sivas, a city shaped by strong natural landscapes and a layered production culture, yet today facing a disconnection between ecological systems, public life, and institutional structures. The project is grounded in the concept of RE-SYMBIOSIS, which proposes a renewed relationship between nature, urban governance, and collective production. Rather than treating ecology, architecture, and administration as separate entities, the project frames them as interdependent systems that must coexist and support one another.

The river edge functions as a primary contextual driver. It represents both an ecological continuity and a latent public potential that remains underutilized. Responding to this condition, the project positions itself as a mediator between the natural corridor and the city, extending ecological flows into the urban fabric through landscape, pedestrian networks, and spatial permeability. The site is therefore not approached as a closed plot, but as a connective field where urban and natural systems overlap.

Programmatically, the project brings together a municipal building, education and research facilities, workshops, and a shared exhibition space. These functions are organized along a clear public axis that reflects the project’s conceptual foundation: production, learning, and governance as visible and shared processes. The municipality building is designed with a terraced massing strategy, gradually rising from the ground to avoid a monolithic institutional presence.

The educational and workshop buildings support knowledge transfer and hands-on production, while the elevated exhibition space acts as a symbolic and spatial connector. This shared platform enables interaction between different user groups and makes processes of learning, administration, and production legible to the public. A semi-transparent canopy further strengthens this relationship by integrating landscape elements into the architectural system, allowing vegetation and light to penetrate the built form.

Through this integrated approach, the project redefines the relationship between context and concept, proposing a resilient urban model where ecological awareness, public participation, and institutional structures operate in symbiosis.