Turkey's new concert hall to be completed in 2020

By Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s Presidential Symphony Orchestra will finally have a new facility by the end of 2020 with artistic, social and civic features, architects working on the project told Anadolu Agency.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the construction of the concert hall will be finished within a year, 28 years after it started.

The new facility will have two halls with a capacity of 2,500 people, a backstage and a VIP lounge.

Architect couple Semra Uygur and Ozcan Uygur said such public facilities are the prestige of a city and reflect the image of a country.

“Having a stranger watch a concert there changes the images of the country,” said Ozcan Uygur.

Semra Uygur said the facilities will contribute to the cultural and artistic life of society and strengthen the social communication of people.

“Presidential Symphony Orchestra is the only institution bearing the name of the Turkey’s Presidency. This facility will play an important role in cultural life of Ankara and Turkey,” she added.

- Architectural features

It all started with a national architectural project in 1992. The plan was to build a concert hall in the area of the Ataturk Culture Center.

“The project exhibited a symbolic behavior that will not age in the city scale and stood out with this attitude, rather than a design language that is valid for a certain time period,” Semra Uygur said of the final decision why the jury chose their project.

She said the area is in a location that passes through a line between the mausoleum of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the Ankara Castle.

“We had the chance to locate the main concept of the structure emotionally and physically, its relation with the urban area. The structure that does not harmonize with its surrounding is meaningless,” she added.

- A unique form

The Presidential Symphony Orchestra’s new structure has an egg-shaped form, combined with a pyramid building.

“We combined the wall and roof to create the feeling that it is surrounded by the environment. Therefore, the structure consists of singular and independent forms,” said Semra Uygur.

Ozcan Uygur said that the egg-shaped form also aims to create acoustics inside the structure.

Stressing it is the first hall built for concert purposes in Turkey, Semra Uygur said: “Only symphonic music can be performed here.”

- Facility’s place in daily life

It is not only a place to listen to a concert, Ozcan Uygur said, but it is also possible to listen to music everywhere.

"People come to socialize, meet new people and come together," he said. "When the construction of this facility is over, it will be a place where people take a break. Public facilities not only serve their visitors but also the community."