The urban design competition to decide a new plan for historical Taksim Square has been concluded with the selection of three projects.
A total of 146 applications were submitted for the design contest, which was organized by the Istanbul Planning Agency and the Istanbul Municipality’s Department of Cultural Heritage.
While three designs won awards, five designs received honorable mentions. Citizens of Istanbul will vote to select the winning design.
The competition, which was announced on March 2 for Taksim Square, famous Gezi Park and its surroundings, was organized in two stages at an international level.
Zeynep Ahunbay, Ipek Akpınar Aksugür, Arman Akdoğan, Can Kubin, Arzu Nuhoğlu and Kerem Piker were among the jury of the competition while foreign jury members Manuel de Rivero and Rainer Schmidt also helped in choosing the winners.
Out of the 146 applications, 72 were from local teams, 48 foreign and 26 mixed. After the first stage, 20 teams further developed their projects according to the recommendations of the jury, and they were later reevaluated in the second phase. Voting to decide the winning project will take place soon. Those who want to participate will vote with their identity numbers.
