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Ministry of Environment Campus, Ankara

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The competition brief called for a new 40,000 square meter headquarters building for the Ministry of Environment in Turkey on the outskirts of the capital, Ankara.

GAD proposed an entirely new kind of government building that abandons the traditional single monumental edifice and instead favors a complex of low buildings at a more human scale. By pursuing an interconnected landscape of multiple buildings, rather than a single hierarchical ordering system, the site can be developed in a number of phases as planned. In addition, by designing individual buildings separate entrances and security arrangements can be accommodated. The flexible framework of buildings is positioned in a pattern that fosters circulation between departments and is sympathetic to the rise and fall of the landscape with more than half of the site given over to public space. The open–ended plan for the complex also exploits the potential for the most necessary buildings to be constructed immediately and then additional wings to be added later.

The campus is designed around a central garden that brings together workers from different departments, fostering communication, in a communal area that acts as a village green and a focus for social activities, GAD proposed a clear visual connection between the landscape and the buildings. The earth appears to unfold to create ramps that connect the land with the buildings and lead to the roof allowing for multiple fire exits and entrances to the buildings from above and at ground level that are particularly necessary in case of earthquakes or fires, etc. The rooftop terraces can also be used as additional public space.

The complex is divided into a rich mix of office buildings and social facilities such as a library, canteen and restaurant, guesthouse, and kindergarten. The master plan calls for the multi-leveled buildings to accommodate offices while the conference and meeting rooms are in an adjacent lower building that serves every department. Facilities such as the restaurant and canteen are positioned in the middle of the space making them easily accessible from anywhere in the complex. The guesthouse is set away from the main buildings in the south part of the site surrounded by a garden. It can be accessed via sidewalks that are defined throughout the site as well as via a private sheltered walkway that runs under the nearby lecture hall. The green area adjacent to the guesthouse also has the potential to be developed into an area for environmental research with pavilions for testing alternative energy sources.

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