GTU Architecture Students Win First Prize in National Competition

December 31, 2025 - GTU Office of Press and Public Relations
 

In the architectural idea project competition organized by the Ankara Branch of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), GTU students are awarded first prize for their projects themed “Youth Park.”

GTU Signature in the World of Architecture

Students from the Department of Architecture at Gebze Technical University (GTU) have returned with a major achievement from a prestigious national competition. The Student Architectural Idea Project Competition titled “Tracing Water: Adaptive Reuse of the Youth Park Pool,” organized by the Ankara Branch of TMMOB, has concluded. The team consisting of Ertuğrul Emre Hüsrev, Yusuf Çiftci, Ataberk Kahraman, İrem Duymaz, Yasemin Demir, and Nehir Gürkaş have won first prize with their innovative project.

From Conventional Functions to a Political Threshold: Reuse

The award-winning project approaches Ankara Youth Park through a holistic perspective that goes beyond fixed functions, focusing on water, memory, time, and public encounters. Defining public space not merely as a recreational area but as a political threshold where waiting, pausing, and coexistence become possible, the design has received strong appreciation from academic circles.

A Dynamic Design Shaped by Natural Processes

Inspired by Bernard Tschumi’s non-hierarchical spatial framework, the design proposes the removal of the existing artificial pond and the creation of a new topography that takes into account the natural floodplain characteristics of İncesu Stream. The transformable stage, public pool, pier, and play areas included in the project are shaped by the movement of water. Aiming to liberate the park from stagnation, the design seeks to transform it into a dynamic public organization that unfolds over time and is continuously reinterpreted.