MEYDAN RETAIL COMPLEX AND MULTIPLEX -

UMRANIYE

The different retail spaces are clustered together and parking is placed underground, liberating ground for a large urban square in the centre of the complex. The central square is activated though a number of pedestrian routes which link the underground car park to the ground level and are accessible from the wider city context though two new routes across the roofs of the retail spaces. 

The different retail spaces are connected with one another and form a ring like continuous volume around the central square. Roofs of these retail spaces, some of them sloping, are designed as gardens with extensive vegetation. Ramps connect the level of the central square with the roofs of the retail spaces which coincide with levels of the surrounding neighbourhood. In addition to the physical continuity created between the retail spaces and the surrounding context, roof lights introduced to the retail areas create visual contact between the shops and the roof gardens. 

Meydan is a different model of retail to the common out of town retail sheds such as IKEA which are designed as sheds deployed onto an asphalt platform and surrounded by car parks. Instead of a car park, shoppers move through a public square which is physically connected with the urban space beyond and visually surrounded at once with retail space and roof gardens. 

Photo credits: FMA - Farshid Moussavi Architecture