Not every company should locate to ‘opportunity
regions’, says Tabanlioglu’s Melkan Gursel
cessful and beneficial for that place.”
Tabanlioglu Architects has projects
across the GCC, especially in the UAE
and Iran, as well as elsewhere in the
world, from Senegal to Kazakhstan
to Morocco. Approaching each pro-
ject takes a unique blend of research,
knowledge-exchange, and the indepth
analysis of context, environment and
culture, Gursel said.
While the firm’s design work is of
high-calibre, the thought process be-
hind the firm’s concepts is what drives
its success. Most recently, a Tabanlio-
glu-led renovation of a library in Istan-
bul picked up a nomination for a 2019
Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
The library stands as a great exam-
ple of how the practice approaches its
projects, as the team’s modus operandibegan with reviewing the site, the pro-
ject’s function, and learning about the
community the project would cater to.
It then determined a sensitive path
forward that involved the reorganisa-
tion of the interior and careful restora-
tion of the building’s fabric, particular-
ly of its prominent multi-domed roof.
The architects’ aim was to respect
what was already there, they said,
while contributing to the positive ex-
perience of those using the space and
not overwhelming the contents of the
library, which include precious, aged
manuscripts.
“Run-of-the-mill, mediocre projects
may be usable, but they are not what
people deserve,” said Gursel. “We have
the tools and information to design for
a better and happier life for all.”In a recent interview with Middle East
Architect, Melkan Gursel, partner at
the award-winning Turkish architec-
ture practice Tabanlioglu Architects,
said that while the GCC is in ample
demand for development, not all
architecture companies should get
involved.
“Many cities in the GCC assert great
demand for their urban development,”
Gursel said. “This creates a valuable
medium for architecture and urban
design. We are willing to be a part of it
and contribute to it.
“Yet, not every company should lo-
cate to ‘opportunity regions’; rather,
only those that can truly contribute
and that know the geography, people,
behavioural patterns, social ways and
production attitudes – they will be suc-
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