CITYLOOP / FATIMA KOYUNCU

This project aims to integrate Sivas’s year-round cultural and natural dynamics with the continuity of a public institution such as the municipality, bringing together different scales of urban life within a single spatial organization. Festivals, seasonal events, and periods of temporary intensity are considered together with everyday, medium-scale public activities, transforming the relationship between the ordinary and the extraordinary into a coherent architectural framework. In this sense, the municipality is redefined not merely as an administrative building, but as a civic focus embedded within the cultural and social rhythm of the city.

The spatial layout is structured around three primary urban axes connecting the site to the city center, the railway station, and the university. These axes are interpreted not only as circulation routes but also as spatial instruments that bring diverse user groups and flows of urban life into the site. Building masses and open spaces are positioned along these directions, allowing the site to operate as an urban node where Sivas’s daily and periodic public activities intersect.

The municipal square is designed as a large, open, and flexible public void capable of accommodating the city’s major cultural events. During festival periods, it functions as a gathering and event space, while throughout the rest of the year it operates as an “event meadow,” supporting everyday uses such as social interaction, rest, and passage. In this way, the square becomes a temporal interface that adapts to varying levels of intensity and occupation.

Overall, the project proposes a spatial system that makes the relationship between Sivas’s cultural cycles and everyday urban life legible at both architectural and urban scales, positioning the municipality at the center of this multi-layered public structure.