T E R M I N U S
TERMINUS is a response to Istanbul’s de-saturated Film Industry and its enervated CCI’s (Creative Cultural Industries). It aims to [re]animate both industries whilst [re]affirming Istanbul as a cultural centre on the global stage, by existing as a cultural transmitter/catalyst for the city. TERMINUS proposes that the site, Seraglio Point, is inhabited by a new Conservatory for the Filmic Arts, as well as a new host site for the IKSV [Istanbul International Film Festival]. The building occurs in three fragments [Film Archive, Directors Studios and Film Processing Labs, Portable Cinema Screen and Hanging Bar] suspended over a sciographic ground plane. The architecture is intended to exist as incandescent hovering bodies over a cut, scarred, shadowy festival/set-scape. The space is envisioned as liminal, eerie, uncanny; punctured by shadow and deep pools of water, a penumbra on Istanbul's ruinous edge, an underbelly that captures the labyrinthine nature and atmosphere of Istanbul. In essence a miniature of the cities spatial set.
In Istanbul elevated space = sacred space, and this notion was adopted for the fragmented building of the conservatory of film. The learning capsules (Director’s studios), are envisioned as two chrysalises, hanging above the earth; POISED, STILL. But brimming with imagination and ideas, encapsulating students while concepts are forged, which will in time be imprinted back onto the CITY BACKDROP. Two geometrically altered MINARET-LIKE structures pierce through the roof of the studio, allowing for moments of contemplation and silence. Here one is raised high into the air and can watch the city from an isolated space. The students of TERMINUS, are encouraged to spend as little time as possible in the studio, the city and the festival/set-scape is seen as a blank canvas upon which they can mark and mark again. Emphasising the PALIMPSESTED nature of Istanbul.
