26/08: Açık Zemin* / The Continuity of Emptiness Through Public and Natural Thresholds / Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Social, Cultural, and Administrative Services Building

*Açık Zemin : Open Space

Menteşe / Muğla / 2026

Project Team

Boğaçhan Dündaralp, Architect

Berna Dündaralp, Architect

Mesut Seçgin, Architect

Nisa Demircan, Architecture Student

Program

Architectural Design Competition

Size

2092 sqm

Client

Muğla Büyükşehir Belediyesi

Structural Design

Ahmet Topbaş, Civil Engineer

Advisors

Arzu NUHOĞLU, Landscape Architect

Süleyman AKIM, Mechanical Engineer

Fatma AKIM, Aircraft Engineer

Serhat Şahinler, Electrical and Electronics Engineer

Question

The Arasta and Hanlar District, which represents three distinct urban layers formed during the historical development of Muğla’s urban fabric, and the space between Kurşunlu Mosque and Atatürk Elementary School—located at the intersection of the Konakaltı District and the area surrounding Cumhuriyet Square—how can this space be redefined as a “public space” in the context of historical and natural thresholds? How can a contemporary understanding of public space—one that engages with experiences and representations of public spaces from different periods and reinterprets them through a holistic approach—be articulated?

Project Area: A Threshold

The historical development of Muğla has been shaped by the layering of settlements formed during different periods, beginning at the foothills of Mount Asar. Today, the project area serves as a critical interface between these layers, connecting public hubs from various eras. The area between Kurşunlu Mosque, the Arasta and Hanlar District, Konakaltı Square, Cumhuriyet Square, and Atatürk Elementary School is not merely a transit point but also a meeting place for different eras, different forms of public life, and different spatial characters. For this reason, the project area has been considered first and foremost not as a building lot but as a threshold. This threshold also serves as a meeting point for Muğla’s diverse forms of public life. The production culture of the Arasta, the everyday urban life of Konakaltı, and the modern public order represented by Cumhuriyet Square converge here; however, they fail to establish spatial continuity. The project aims to reconnect this discontinuity through a new public space.

What Kind of Public Space?

Cities exist not only through their buildings but also through their spaces. Some spaces exist merely between two buildings; others open up between different times, different memories, and different ways of life. The area between the Kurşunlu Mosque and the Atatürk Elementary School in Muğla is such a space. This is not a vacant lot. It is not an empty plot of land where a building will be constructed. It is a threshold where different eras of the city stand side by side without touching—yet are not yet able to communicate with one another. The culture of production in the Arasta and Hanlar District, the everyday urban life of Konakaltı, and the modern public sphere of Cumhuriyet Square all converge here; yet they cannot establish continuity. The project takes its starting point precisely from this point of disconnection. The question is not about designing a new structure. The question is how a lost sense of public continuity can be reestablished.

A Void Waiting to Be Revealed

The history of Muğla is as much a history of voids as it is a history of buildings. In traditional Muğla settlements, life unfolds not only within buildings but also in the streets, courtyards, gardens, and shaded passageways. The city’s identity is read not so much in the individual existence of buildings as in the continuity created by these voids. Streets, courtyards, squares, gardens, shaded areas, and passageways… The city’s daily life has taken shape within these voids. However, with the processes of modern urbanization, while the language of buildings produces continuity, the language of voids has become fragmented. Today, the project site is one of the thresholds where this fragmentation is most visible. On one side lies the historical fabric, on the other, public buildings from the Republican era; on one side, the topography; on the other, hard urban surfaces. For this reason, the site has been evaluated not so much as a problem to be solved but as a layer to be interpreted.

Not the Building, but the Space

This proposal takes a stance against the traditional approach that centers on the building. For what is missing in this context is not a new object. What is missing are relationships. For this reason, the project proposes designing the ground before designing the building. The ground here is not merely a physical surface to walk on. The ground is a public commons where encounters take place, where waiting is possible, and where seeking shade, sitting, observing, pausing, and passing through intertwine. For this reason, the proposal treats the building not as an object standing within a void, but as a spatial tool that enables the continuity of that void.

Open Space

Open Space is a proposal for a relationship. It is a quest to establish continuity between historical layers, between public focal points, between the natural and built environments, between interior and exterior, and between day and night. At the same time, it aims to make the topographic continuity—stretching from the foothills of Mount Asar to Cumhuriyet Square—visible once again. Thus, the project functions as an open ground that connects not only public focal points but also the city’s natural thresholds. In this approach, boundaries give way to thresholds. Walls become permeable. Facades cease to be merely surfaces to be viewed and transform into spatial interfaces that participate in public life. Rather than being separated from one another, the programs support each other. Public life enters the structure. The structure spills out into the public realm. Emptiness and fullness are no longer two opposites that define each other but become parts of the same spatial experience.