Yenikapi Transfer Point And Archaeo-Park Area International Preliminary Architecture Project

The competition for the “Yenikapi Transfer Point and Archaeo-Park area” required a solution for the relationship between the main node of interchange in the city between various subway lines, the site of the ancient Port of Theodosius unearthed during the course of works, and the consequent valorisation of archaeological findings of extraordinary historical and cultural importance, including 35 ships from the Byzantine era.
The target area of this complex and articulated urban transformation project extends across more than 28 hectares in the heart of the historical peninsula of the Turkish metropolis and required the development of a master plan for the requalification of public spaces, the realisation of new parks and the rehabilitation of two neighbourhoods.
The project presented by the team of Francesco Cellini - Insula Architettura e ingegneria - Huseyin Kaptan - Atelye 70 proposed for the central area a close functional and above all cultural integration between the spaces dedicated to users of the subway system – estimated at some 1,700,000 people per day – and those destined for the "City Archive". The 33,000 square meter City Archive is conceived as a space dedicated to the valorisation of archaeological findings and an active "hub" of the history and future of the metropolis. All of this is located inside the large "archaeological nave" that, located precisely atop the original site, represents the multi-secular vitality and richness of a port that once represented the principal commercial link between the city of Istanbul and the rest of the Mediterranean world.