Location: Ankara, Turkey.

Architect: Erkal Architects.

The Congress and Culture Center is a building designed for a mid-size university campus, located in the Çankaya University campus. The building is intended to host academic conferences, congress events, and cultural performances such as concerts and theater productions. The main foyer is the central element of the architectural program, commanding views across the entire campus and beyond. The foyer becomes a volume that displays the effects of the movement of the sun throughout the day, employing perforated sun screens inside and outside the glazing to control solar radiation while generating an interplay of patterns. The main hall for 350 people is planned to be a flexible space with stage mechanics and professional electronics to undertake most academic and performative events. Two seminar rooms are separated by moveable wall panels to have the possibility of using as a single space together. In addition to these halls, administrative rooms, a kitchenette, as well as an atelier and backstage areas are found in the building. The foyer was designed to be highly versatile and suitable for a wide array of functions, and it was briefed to be larger than all the other spaces. A system of exhibition furniture is realized with static and moveable parts within the foyer. The back wall of the main auditorium is built as a series of retractable wall panels to provide a full and complete integration into the foyer areas. Therefore the main foyer can house an extended audience as well as social events or exhibitions. The activity along this sequence of spaces becomes a spectacle from the outside as well.

Photo credit: Orhan Kolukısa, Yerçekim.