View to Çemberlitaş: Celebrating a Monument

architectural artifact, urban strategy

– paper modelling, hand drawing, Illustrator –

Çemberlitaş, also known as the Burnt Column, is a monument built by the emperor Constantine in celebration of Constantinople, now Istanbul, as the new capital of the Roman Empire. It is one of Istanbul’s most treasured architectural artifacts. The project is designed as a mixed use complex that celebrates the presence of the column and its rich history in an area flowing with tourism, commerce, and public life. Its main feature is a sloped landscape that allows for a gradual ascent into a museum and viewing space for the column, with retail and residential development on the ground level and rear of the site.