Location: Kırklareli, Turkey.

Architect: Yazgan Design Architecture.

İğneada is a small town on the Black Sea coast in Turkey, known for its rare ecosystems of floodplain and deciduous forests, coastal dunes, freshwater and salt water lakes, and rich fauna and flora. The İğneada Glamping project aims to protect the local forest ecosystem by introducing a new kind of accommodation: glamorous camping. The project site is an afforestation area covering 17 hectares of land, with trees planted by the local authorities approximately 40 years ago. The overall design of İğneada Glamping and leisure complex is based on three functionally varying zones and their interrelations: daycation zone, activity zone, and accommodation zone. The entrance point is the focal point of concentric semi-circles that regulates public-to-private distribution of the units. Each zone is further divided with a central axis and two radial paths which are only for pedestrian use. The area dedicated to daily visitors includes picnic areas where the cooking activity will take place in a controlled and forest-friendly manner. The activity zone includes tennis and basketball fields, a multipurpose green amphitheater, an adventure park, and two thematic tent villages for young visitors. The accommodation zone is designed for boarding visitors, with a biological lake at the center and different types of lodging units that vary from cabins to glamping tents organized in 7 thematic villages. All units in the project are designed as variations on a theme, with a single structural system and material palette applied to different forms. The main aspect of the overall design approach is to utilize natural, sustainable, and recyclable materials with minimum ecologic footprint. The İğneada Glamping project is ambitious and innovative in its conceptual aspects, carrying the potential of giving value to the surrounding area and offering an unprecedented nature-tourism experience in Turkey, while aiming to remain environmentally appropriate.