COMMUNITY LIVING HUB / GİZEM AKYÜREK

The project is located in Sivas and is conceived as a municipal building integrated with public and social spaces, aiming to strengthen the relationship between civic life, the urban fabric, and the natural landscape. The design responds to its context by carefully analysing the surrounding residential areas and existing pedestrian pathways, transforming these flows into guiding axes that shape the overall spatial organization of the project.

The main design concept, “Interconnection,” is developed through the ideas of gathering and dispersing. Pedestrian movements originating from nearby neighborhoods are collected along defined axes and directed through the site, ultimately leading users toward the river. In this way, the project acts as an urban connector, linking daily civic activities with recreational and natural spaces while encouraging social interaction and continuity within the city.

The project consists of two main components. The first is the municipal building, conceived as a transparent and accessible civic structure. A large internal gallery space, oriented toward the main facade, acts as the spatial core of the building. This gallery visually and physically connects different floors, enhances natural light penetration, and creates a strong relationship between interior spaces and external pedestrian circulation. The second component is the social and cultural zone, which accommodates functions such as a library, conference hall, exhibition spaces, and other public facilities. This zone is conceived as an extension of urban life, offering flexible and inclusive spaces that support cultural activities, learning, and community gatherings. These social functions are strategically placed along pedestrian axes to ensure continuous interaction between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Overall, the project reinterprets the role of a municipal complex by merging governance with social life, creating an integrated civic environment that gathers people, distributes movement, and reconnects the city with its natural surroundings.