TÜRKBELENİ (ANTALYA) RECREATION AREA

The project site is in Türkbeleni and covers an area of 35.33 hectares. It lies in the center of Manavgat, a municipal district 75 km away from Antalya. The site was densely green and served as lungs for Antalya before a devastating fire turned it into an empty urban lot in 2013. The loss of the original green tissue and the resulted blank space in a central urban quarter necessitate the re-planning of the area and to integrate Türkbeleni with Manavgat.

The project is developed to realize this goal by restoring Türkbeleni as an ecological park with recreational functions and to generate an urban impact in this wounded area. The ecological aspects of the site, therefore, are taken as the leading design data for the project undertaken which is near completion. Regarding its original context, the project is conceptualized as 'a land healing and renovation project' and its functional scenario is based on relating the 'natural' and the 'urban' in a well balanced and 'place' specific way.

The urban sprawl in Manavgat is along the river and includes cultivated areas. The envisioned ecological park will highlight the agricultural aspect of the site as a surplus and place value and serve as a usable green zone with recreational and social services. Both the structural facilities and the natural places to be dispersed in this green zone will function as corridors and linkages in between the encircling urban settlement and the ecological park, and consequently generate a vivid urban use.

An important challenge in this sense is the sustainability of agriculture in the vicinity of the project site as this is a characteristic aspect of Manavgat. To ensure this, the ecological park is developed within a vegetated and controlled territory of its own.

The ecological park contains two major activity areas. The first type is the open-air arrangements designed in the form of 'natural places' and will function as passive recreational spots within the proposed green tissue. These places not contain built structures and are designed like the actual green areas and public parks planned in the city center of Manavgat.

The second type is the thematic arrangements and related buildings that offer venues for gastronomic needs, social and cultural happenings and are planned as activity corridors branching within the green tissue and the open-air arrangements. This activity zone has an urban character with pedestrian paths, squares and low-rise recreational venues that include a youth/cultural center, administration offices, restaurants, cafes and an amphitheater. The tectonic qualities and positioning of these buildings in the site and the building materials used will provide continuity among the ground, wall surfaces and topography and thus contribute to creating a climatically, spatially and functionally harmonious environment.

Plant selection is determined according to the soil structure which is deformed and open to erosion. Local species that are maintenance-free and easy to grow are used for landscaping the ecological park; they will be used for soil improvement purposes as well. The endemic plants used will be maintained and preserved in specially arranged cultivation pots for ecological preservation and monitoring. With regard to the vegetative design, the green tissue will get denser and more varied from the higher elevations of the site towards the pond area located at a below point. A dense and unified pattern of trees composed of broad-leaved trees and a band of coniferous trees will define the borders of the site and prevent physical intrusions and uncontrolled penetration. Climate compatible species will be used together with those more frequently seen in the Manavgat area to obtain floral and vegetative variety. The proposed fauna as such will provide a ground for shelter and breeding for numerous animals, especially for the migratory birds, and thus enrich the fauna of the region.