BUILDING MUSEUM-BUILDIUM / İlayda Arslan
The project I designed in the Üngüt Neighborhood is shaped around a green corridor that stretches between Ahir Mountain and Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University. This corridor is not only a landscape route but also a public spine that provides ecological and social value to the neighborhood through recreational areas, urban gardens, green pockets, and diverse building typologies. At the heart of the corridor, I placed a neighborhood square that establishes a strong linear and spatial connection between the building museum, its garden, and the adjacent archaeological site. The main goal of my project is to protect the cultural texture of Üngüt while creating a more livable, layered, and sustainable environment.
The building museum I designed is shaped around the concept of “connection.” Through this theme, I aimed to create architectural relationships that connect the past, the present city, and the natural surroundings. The museum consists of five main exhibition zones: the first narrates the historical timeline of Kahramanmaraş, the second displays a large-scale city model with urban development scenarios, the third introduces traditional construction techniques and local materials, the fourth focuses on innovative architectural solutions and sustainable technologies, and the fifth presents interactive digital earthquake data.
In addition to the exhibitions, the museum includes a conference hall, temporary exhibition spaces, public workshops, and a restaurant that opens toward the landscape. Through these components, I envisioned the museum as not only a place for observation but also as a dynamic, participatory, and educational space. The aim is to create a living cultural hub that fosters collective memory, encourages knowledge exchange, and strengthens the connection between people, architecture, and the environment.
In summary,this project aims to establish a sustainable relationship between the past and the future by preserving the cultural fabric of Üngüt Mahallesi and creating an ecological and social link between Ahir Dağı and Sütçü İmam University, while making the city’s historical memory, architectural culture and disaster memory visible through the architecture museum.
