Turkey’s first LEED-registered project, the Varyap Meridian, won in the ‘Best International Architecture – Multiple Units’ category at the 17th International Property Awards.
Set on a highly visible site, Varyap Meridian is a high-end mixed-use project comprising 1500 residence units in five towers from 20 through 61 floors, three office buildings spanning 20,000 square metres, a 5 Star Hotel & Congress Center of 50, 000 square metres, and landscaped public areas and parking. The project spread across an area of 107,000 square metres will only use 13,000 square metres for the construction of the buildings, leaving 90% of the area as green space.
As Turkey’s first environmentally-friendly housing project, Varyap Meridian’s shared area will include a section able to produce and meet its own energy needs by the use of renewable resources such as wind and sun. Active green design features include rainwater collection sites and systems which optimise water usage and reduce energy consumption, wind turbine technology, cooling water pools that enhance the external landscape and a co-generation plant that will produce electricity for the development. In developing the project’s ‘environmentally-friendly housing’ concept, the principles of environmental impact and sustainability are accorded major significance.
Detailed analysis of the area’s topographic structure and details such as the direction of the wind, optimal views and sunlight were employed to give the project its fundamental inspiration. The most important consideration became the issue of situating the buildings in such a way as to gain maximum benefit from the sunlight which, in turn, gave rise to the project’s terracing concept. Together with landscaping, this terracing functions as a means of natural ventilation for the buildings. The water features employed in the garden landscaping have been developed so as to provide cool air drafts that rise up to the buildings’ terraced faces. The area’s landscaping will be shaped by its natural plant cover and topographic structure.
The $1 billion mixed-use scheme in the Atasehir district of Istanbul is developed by Varyap, the real estate and construction arm of Turkey’s Varlibas Group International. RMJM’s cutting edge design has been selected in an international competition. MEP and structural consultants Buro Happold engineers designed the whole project.
The winners were honoured at the 17th International Property Awards ceremony held in London on 27 November 2010. Nominees for the awards were judged by a panel of 54 experts from the fields of property, design and construction, and property journalists and sponsors of the awards.
Established 16 years ago, the International Property Awards are dedicated to finding the most outstanding property professionals across the globe. Four gala events are held during the year in various prominent locations such as Singapore, San Diego, London and Dubai, where winners are presented with their awards. BLOOMBERG TELEVISION has recently signed a sponsorship deal to present the awards.
