The new TV and Radio Tower gives a female touch to Istanbul’s skyline

At the moment of writing this, life is restricted to indoors due to the worldwide Coronavirus Pandemic and who knows for how long it will continue. As guiding is an outdoor activity, involving groups of people, we cannot do this now, but we would like to keep in touch until life gets back to normal and show you the interesting buildings in our cities. I want to introduce you to a large-scale project in Istanbul, that is scheduled to be opened in the summer of 2020.

The new central TV and Radio Tower in Camlica Istanbul, designed by Melike Altınışık Architects.

Altınışık worked with Zaha Hadid in London for a long time, until she founded her own office in Istanbul (MAA) in 2013. In some ways, she continues the legacy of Hadid as a female architect struggling amidst a male dominated architectural scene while shaping elegant technological buildings. The tower on the Asian side of the city will replace many ugly antennas that have spread here over the last decades and will serve some 125 broadcasting transmitters in the future. The tower, with a total height of 369 m (589 above sea level), presents itself in different shapes from all over the city and beside its technical mission, it will also function as a social hub. The TV and radio tower and its environment will house cafes, restaurants, observations decks and exhibition spaces.

Therefore, after summer 2020 it will be a great opportunity to visit the tower for its architecture and whilst getting a splendid view to an amazing part of Istanbul, and of course socializing. Since the tower is visible from the major part of the city, the commuters of Istanbul in buses, boats and cars have watched the interesting construction process day by day. After the plain concrete shaft was finished, which most of the people thought to be the tower itself, the building’s main body was constructed. A mass elevator lifted the heavy body parts up, piece by piece where they were put together into the real form of the tower.

MAA – Istanbul TV & Radio Tower Construction Timelapse from MELIKE ALTINISIK ARCHITECTS on Vimeo.

Until construction could begin many tests had been conducted to confirm the large structure’s stability as well as paving the way to the envelope’s design. The new TV and Radio Tower of Istanbul clearly reveals that technology and functionality alone do not make interesting architecture. It is the touch of the architect, and in this case the female touch, that presented the city with a new piece of architecture.

The tower, with its elegant curves resembling the Bosporus, will surely be a modern symbol of the city, triumphing from the Asian hills of Istanbul.

Text: Zeynep Kuban, GA Istanbul