typology_ecotourism
program_restaurant & bar & lounge
mission_architectural, interior and lighting design
location_Kocaeli, Turkey
client_private
constructed surface_200 sqm
status_delivered, 2022
Narköy is a training center, ecological hotel and organic farmlocated on a 10-hectare site on the west coast of the Black Sea in Turkey. The center specializes in tailor-made corporate trainings held in nature, using its means. A variety of outdoor experiences are offered to private visitors, such as engaging in organic farming activities to witness the entire process from seed to table, participating in workshops on art and life in nature, permaculture, local and organic cuisine, and more. The entire concept of Narköy, including its architectural design, management, and operational strategies, has been developed based on the fundamental principles of simplicity, modesty, authenticity, depth, transparency, and sustainability.
In 2013, Kuscu&Reynaud designed the first restaurant at Narköy as a temporary space, which has now been replaced by this new restaurant that meets evolving spatial requirements.
The parcel of the restaurant is somewhat squeezed between facility’s buildings on the southeast, the forest on the north, and the gradual green terraces on the west. Thus the new restaurant needed to enroll humbly and subtly between the bold architectural language of the existing buildings and the dense forest; the need was to design an edifice which raises harmoniously from above the terraces. In the mean time, the challenge was to create a well-balanced space in terms of daylight and view frames, flexible enough to accommodate, in a quite changing rythme, different functions such as eating, gathering, hosting meetings, chilling, and enjoying live music concerts.
So the restaurant’s outside space sits weightlessly with an open terrace with only local sandstone on the floor, than perches itself in the upper level with a light wooden structure and a folding pergola system. The indoor space carries the same symmetrical axes inside with some twists on both sides, with a highly present wood truss.
The roof slopes start low from the main façade, framing the captivating valley view to the west. Gradually, they rise up to the turret windows, opening the heart of the dining space up to the sky and promoting natural ventilation.
The axes are directing the view, in the heart of the interior space, to a scenography ofcabinet de curiosité: another wooden structure expanding on the whole wall, covered with books on local history and ecology, old farming and cooking instruments, self-service snacks and all kind of food and objects, changing trough seasons.
In the very middle of all those is settled the kitchen, separated with sliding windows and century-long old local hand-made linen dividers. The idea is to create flexible visibility of the kitchen while also masking the technical lightings of the cooking area.
The whole design is emphasizing the importance of the kitchen with a farm-to-table approach; local food from the fields and wild plants and old recipes cooked by local people.
The traditional stove, which was an important gathering point in the previous restaurant; has been reinterpreted as a fireplace integrating a hydraulic system feeding the radiators around the dining area.
Wooden quadruplet columns support the lightweight roof truss and are bathed in sunlight from the turret windows. They also define the location of a mobile stage for live music, while creating a subtle distinction between the service and dining areas, enabling smoother functionality for the restaurant's staff.
While the visible roof truss is reinterpreting the canopy of the forest, the color of the floor tiles are inspired by the moss and lichens of Black Sea’s humid forests. The earth, key element of life, is used inside the walls : the wooden structure, covered with reed panels on both sides, is filled with a mix of local dry earth, straw and lime both on walls and the ceiling. The natural clay plaster on the inner surfaces make sure the walls and the ceiling are breathing. Also, a rammed earth bar sits across from the fireplace, creating two distinct areas for gathering and lounging within the dining space.
The temporary restaurant has been completely disassembled and repurposed in the new construction, including using the old wooden structure to create tables for the new restaurant. All reusable and recyclable elements from the old restaurant have been utilized in various areas of the ecotourism facility. All materials, furniture, and labor have been sourced locally.
The whole process, from the deconstruction of the old building to the end has been completed in 3 months.
Structure: Turkish black pine
Walls: Wild cane, earth and straw filling, natural clay plaster.
Materials: Local sandstone, locally produced cement tiles, rammed earth, Turkish black pine, old handmade local textiles of Kandira, linen.
photos credit: Egemen Karakaya
