Voyage Torba Hotel

MANUFACTURERS
Guardian Glass, Sto, VitrA

Text description provided by architect.

The project is in the town of Torba in Bodrum. It is a town where tourism, construction and relentless profit pressures have limited effects for now.

The new project has a reduced number of rooms, i.e., 345, spans an area of 74.000 m², and a construction area of 60.000 m2. 

We now report on the first zone, which was built between 2019 and 2020.

Handling the project area in one large piece and processing it through a singular architectural character would have been a big intervention for the town, which could have grave consequences. 

Therefore, a fundamental problem was to reconcile, at the bare minimum, with the existing environment and structures.

These local clues include the open, semi-open and closed space setup, conditioned by the Aegean and the Mediterranean climate, the sparse distribution of buildings, narrow streets, street niches, buildings’ interdependency with the streets, the space between the street and the house, the stone paved courtyards, the randomness of all these elements and the thresholds derived from it, a series of gray areas...

The settlements are not based on sharp rules, they are sometimes random, sometimes intuitive.

The safest way is to determine the main route of the project by discovering a new local, which takes its roots from the elements, history, and the understanding of the locality and which represents what belongs there not as they are but, in a way, to suit the understanding and the functioning of the contemporary world.

Fragmenting, downscaling, creating building groups, exploring sub/micro zones, leaning towards small structures are the first steps towards reconciling with the town’s landscape. Just like creating a small part of the city, at the scale of a neighborhood.

RANDOMIZATIONS/ NICHES:

Although some main axis frames are defined while forming the building groups, all the structures apart from the first one to be built are positioned according to the previous one, creating a sense of unpredictability from the beginning.

A series of randomizations and niches, not following a fixed composition or line, nor a rule other than the minimum space left between the buildings for passages. 

Series of thresholds. Tracing the intermediate areas/spaces of local architecture made possible by the climate and geography.

A series of gray areas. From the main artery to the auxiliary, from the street to the courtyard, from the courtyard to the 'room-house', from the room-house to the bathroom, from the bathroom to the inner court, from the inner court to the sky again… So much so that the material flows from outside into the inside. 

Inside and outside are integrated, and this is another pillar of the project.

It is vital to use elements that move the senses, making many sensory experiences possible, rather than just to rely on sight to understand and find meaning in the world around us.

Lights and shadows. A search for an unmediated experience, using all senses, On the standard patterns of tourism.

This conveyor belt of mass production/consumption leaves no room to stop and understand, to be with yourself, to see beyond behavioral patterns. Industry of leisure… Packaging is what matters…

It is no exaggeration to say that architecture is used in this project to limit and exclude all types of such theatricalities, fictitious setups, and package programs, and it enables the person to gradually participate in activities, to return to their own space/intimacy when necessary, to determine their free time and to stop if need be.