typology_ecotourism

program_hotel, training center &organic farm

mission_holistic system design including architectural and interior design, furniture, landscape and communication design, operational strategies

location_Kocaeli, Turkey

client_Nar Eğitim ve Danışmanlık Merkezi

surface_120.000 sqm 

constructed surface_1.200 sqm

status_delivered, 2013          

project team_ Emir Drahsan, Alexander Schrepfer

Narköy is a training center, ecological hotel and organic farm set on 10 hectares on the west Black Sea coast in Turkey.

It functions as a holistic center where corporate trainings are tailor made in order to be held in the nature, by using the means of the nature, while divers outdoor  experiences are offered to private visitors: organic farming activities to experience in situ the process of the food from seed to table; workshops about art and life in the nature, permaculture, local and organic cuisine, etc.

The whole concept of Narköy, from architectural design to management and operational  strategies, has been designed together, on the same fundamental principles: being simple, modest, real, deep, transparent and sustainable. 

The local architecture has been interpreted and refined with a contemporary approach in order to create spaces that are not in competition with their surroundings. In Narköy, everything is as much as is sufficient.

The focus of the design process is to minimize embodied and ongoing energy and waste, with as much demonstrative and visible ways possible. Thus local and sustainable materials have been used at their best. The recycling and upcycling processes have been also an important part of the interior and furniture design process.  

The design has its part in the educational approach of Narköy. A “Narköy guide” is offered in order to inform and orient the guests about different features of the facility.

Narköy has been nationally and internationally featured on tens of newspapers, magazines, tv shows and documentaries for the alternative system it offers and its design.  

It has also been subject to many master and doctorate thesis and papers in local and international universities. 

photo credits: Serdar Temizkan