TRANSPORTATION HUB AS THIRD SPACE
The ARCH302 studio engages an urban context in the city center of Kayseri where historical, cultural, and social layers are densely superimposed. The study area is a critical urban node at the intersection of the Kaleiçi district—actively used by city residents from past to present—and the city center, where multiple transportation systems, public spaces, and everyday practices converge.
At this point, the studio problem is not limited to the design of a transportation hub. The project approaches the city as a metropolitan artifact, examining how infrastructure systems, public spaces, commercial uses, and everyday life collectively produce spatial form. In addition to automobile, bus, tramway, and pedestrian mobility, the future underground light rail system planned beneath the site will be treated as a primary design parameter. Consequently, transportation systems will be addressed not merely as functional networks, but as spatial organizations that actively transform public life.
The conceptual backbone of the studio is the notion of third space. Within this framework, the transportation hub is conceived not simply as a point of transit and transfer, but as an intermediary condition that redefines the relationship between public space and the public sphere, enables encounters, and becomes embedded in urban life. Through space–place discussions, the spatial implications of movement, waiting, circulation, encounter, visibility, and shared use will be investigated, alongside their transformation through different user profiles and temporal scenarios.
A key component of the site is the underground bazaar, which has long existed in the city center and continues to function through everyday use practices. This condition reveals an urban section in which transportation infrastructure, commercial activity, and public life are layered not only horizontally but also vertically. Rather than being treated as a subordinate level to be preserved or simply connected, the underground system will be integrated as an active public layer, experienced by different user groups at different times.
In response, the transportation hub design necessitates a reconsideration of surface–underground relationships and an exploration of how mobility, commerce, and public space can operate together within a multi-layered spatial continuity. This vertical organization will be explored through sections, diagrams, and spatial scenarios, and reconfigured in alignment with the concept of third space.
Furthermore, the design process will integrate Kayseri’s climatic characteristics—defined by harsh winters and hot summers—into the conceptualization of the third space. Students are expected to address material and facade decisions within the context of spatial performance, utilizing the thermal comfort advantages of the design as a core sustainability argument. This approach ensures that the architectural proposal is not only socially and culturally grounded but also environmentally responsive.
The design process will be structured to progress from the urban scale toward the architectural scale, examining the relationships between the site and its surroundings as well as the social and physical characteristics of the existing urban fabric. These analyses will be translated into the project through a trans-scale design process operating across unit, building, block, and district scales. The transportation hub will be reinterpreted through a typology-with-a-twist approach, rather than through the repetition of established typological schemes.
Within this context, where diverse user profiles, everyday practices, and public encounters coexist, the project aims to generate an architectural proposal that engages its surroundings, maintains the continuity of public space, and addresses social, cultural, and spatial performance in an integrated manner. The outcome will be framed not as an isolated object, but as a coherent architectural argument articulated through design.
Throughout the studio, analytic mapping, strategic programming, and iterative design processes will structure the work, supported by rigorous representational tools. Emphasis will be placed on developing a clear architectural position through design, rather than focusing solely on a final product.
Course Instructors:
Lec. Dr. Nihan Muş Özmen
Lec. Aydan Şahin
Ress. Assist. Melih Utkan