Kızılay

Since the foundation of the Republic in 1923, the center of the capital city of Ankara has been Kızılay Square. The Square has become a historical and cultural key point and one of the city's most important open public spaces. While the square meets the artistic and cultural needs of society, it has also developed commercially. Kızılay Square, located in the heart of Atatürk Boulevard, together with Zafer Square to the north of the boulevard, has formed an axis that meets the needs of people. In both squares, where green was abundant, the people used to spend time longer, gathering, strolling, shopping, attending concerts and sitting in cafes. However, since the end of the 1970s, with the increase in trade, green areas and opportunities for socialization decreased, and vehicle traffic increased.
These changes in recent years have transformed the Kızılay Square into an irregular, dull, even chaotic transition hub, similarly Zafer Square into an unused concrete platform. The functions around Kızılay Square mainly focus on various shopping, educational facilities, and offices, with a lack of socio-cultural activities, and open spaces. With the empty concrete platform on the underground bazaar in Zafer Square, the green and urban social identity where people used to spend time have been gradually moved away. In particular, Kızılay Shopping Mall has dominated the square with its huge mass. Besides, the square was equipped with only daytime functions caused the square to become a lonely place at night, creating security problems.
In recent years, Kızılay Square has undergone a significant transformation that has moved away from its original qualities and identity. After the Covid-19 pandemic, these problems and deficiencies have increased and become more visible.
Answers to all these problems were sought with the project titled ‘Kızılay Collective’, which was designed for the ‘Radical Urban Intervention’ international urban design project competition announced in the fall of 2020, concluded in December 2020. The aim is to regain the historical urban identity of Kızılay Square and revive socio-cultural experiences in collective memory. Pandemic is the greatest reality of our time and, this project aims to transform the existing 'chaotic square' into a livable, usable, sustainable, and social urban node. This proposal is designed according to the current pandemic codes, where closed areas are mostly turned into open spaces where they can spend time safely in terms of health and security, and the entire vehicular transportation network is moved underground. With the project, a multi-layered mixed-use square that includes a cultural and artistic promenade axis is proposed with the revitalization of shops, gastronomic places, and residential use in this critical transportation hub. In addition, an open-air multi-purpose stage is proposed instead of the Kızılay Shopping Center. No functions in the square are lost but adapted to the multi-layered area. Due to the current under-capacity use in the upper floors of Emek Business Center, commercial uses on the ground floor have been kept, and housing proposed for the upper floors to support the square by increasing the nighttime use. Terrace gardens are added to the blind facade of Emek building, creating a whole green façade and a public urban top-view terrace by piercing these terraces with a panoramic urban elevator. With the pandemic, it has been experienced how vital and sustainable it is for people to produce their food. These terrace gardens will provide farming opportunities for the residents; fertilizer can be produced from the food waste recycling system. These will also provide open-air and well-ventilated areas for the residents. While the bus and minibus stops in Güvenpark are moved underground, the park is cleared of concrete, turning it into a botanical park. Furthermore, Zafer Square consists of a commemoration-gathering area intertwined with greenery, including an Atatürk statue, and open exhibition areas. By combining both Squares with an art and culture axis, bringing back the memories, green, sustainable space is created where people can have a pleasant time. Through this set of proposals with a new perspective updated under the post-pandemic conditions, following traces of the past, it is aimed to create a healthy and contemporary urban environment with a sustainable and innovative design approach that will make Kızılay Square the symbol of the capital city once again.

Keywords: Public space, Revitalization, Post-Pandemic Life, Kızılay Square and its Environs, Ankara.