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Democratization of Fashion in Basmane: Celebrating Basmane's Pioneering Textile-Fashion History

ÖNCÜ ÖZALP-GRADUATION PROJECT

EXHIBITED AT ARCHIPRIX INTERNATIOANAL- MADRID- 2015

One of the largest textile factories of the 18th century was once located in the Basmane neighborhood of Izmir, Turkey. This led to the development of various textile-related industries in the area. Today, however, many of these operate under poor conditions, often resembling sweatshops. The aim of the proposed building program is to integrate the diverse disciplines of fashion into a single architectural entity. It seeks to unite design and mass production while also improving the working conditions of textile laborers. This new institution embodies the seamless relationship between these highly interrelated fields through a continuous, flowing architectural form and interconnected interior spaces. The project site was deliberately chosen near the historical Smyrna Agora and the ancient Roman road. These significant landmarks serve as spatial references and orientation anchors for the building, identified and interpreted using computational methods. The irregular street configurations, dead ends, and the dense historical fabric—now fragmented by newer constructions—gave rise to the concept of Deflected Perspectives in Basmane. This idea emerges from the juxtaposition of old and new urban patterns. Anafartalar Street, situated close to the historical site, has undergone numerous interventions over the years, disrupting the legibility of the original urban structure. This has blurred the clear distinction between old and new, producing a place that no longer belongs fully to the past—having lost its intrinsic qualities and damaged its memory—nor yet formed a distinct identity for the future.The historical essence of the site can now only be perceived by an imaginative eye, aided by a palimpsest of layered memories. In this regard, the new building functions as a mnemonic device: it not only commemorates Basmane’s pioneering history in textile and fashion, but also reconnects Anafartalar Street to the Agora. By activating the ground level as a public space, the project aims to open new channels of cultural continuity and urban communication for the future.

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Democratization of Fashion in Basmane: Celebrating Basmane's Pioneering Textile-Fashion History © 2013 by Öncü Özalp is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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