Mandarin Oriental Hotel
High-End Renderings for the New Towers of Istanbul
An urban oasis
These three new standalone towers located in the prestigious Etiler residential area in Istanbul are helping Astaș Holding and Yapi & Yapi to paint a new picture of high-end living for the modern business elite by featuring some of the most exclusive homes in the city.
The Group specializes in the development of branded luxurious real estate developments including, residences, hotels, shopping malls and business centers. They are active, award-winning players in Turkey’s construction and infrastructure sectors.
Our special partner, UNStudio was appointed to design the masterplan and architecture of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Residences to manage the Group’s second luxury hotel in Istanbul, close to the city’s central business district.
In one of the world’s most historic and vibrant cities
“We are delighted to be announcing a second Mandarin Oriental property in Istanbul, together with an exciting luxury residential project. We look forward to extending further the Group’s presence in one of the world’s most historic and vibrant cities,” said James Riley, Group Chief Executive of Mandarin Oriental.
“Operating two complementary hotels in a single city is something that the Group has already done successfully in Hong Kong and will soon do in London. We believe there is room for more than just one Mandarin Oriental Hotel in certain select destinations around the world,” he added.
A touch of glamour
The venture in Turkey will have lots of fun features, including an award-winning signature wellness programme, three restaurants and bars, a spa and both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool reserved for residents. But our favorite amenities are the penthouse terraces on the top floors with their impressive and mesmerizing views of the Bosphorus, the continental boundary between Europe and Asia.
For developers, bringing UNStudio is a solid way to add a touch of glamour to a real estate project. As for the design, the starting point was to create a huge lush garden for the complex that amplifies active circulation and provides an exclusive experience for the owners and future guests, as well as for the surrounding neighborhood.
The Dutch team created a remarkable structure for the towers that is engaging and noncontroversial while also keeping up with tradition and exclusivity. The placement was the result of accurate testing to find an optimal position for the key buildings that would avoid casting shadows on the garden and each other in the afternoon hours.
A long-awaited moment
Our mind flipped back to the moment two years earlier when we first met the studio, which we already knew as a unique, renowned architectural firm from the Netherlands. They simply wrote a warm invitation to us by email to bring a group of ideas to their new proposal that should amaze both investors and future owners in Turkey. As our sense of optimism grew about the collaboration, UNStudio finally ordered a handful of exterior renderings. Working with them promised ZOA something special. Virtue. Character. Adventure. A new anchor that we’ve been missing for long in our history.
We realized that we didn’t just share the same basic values with the Dutch team but we worked together as partners in crime.
Fresh breeze for our artists
If you’ve ever read about any UNStudio and ZOA collab, you must have noticed that we often refer to them as ‘rockstars of architecture’—they are a big international company with many exciting projects and no usual design. Having some kind of a twist in the shapes of a building feels like heaven or fresh breeze for our artists, even though the task can be very complex.
When working on these real-estate images, artists always had to see the big picture. Not a single function can be ignored, we had to keep in mind that each part of the building has its own infrastructure, the cafeteria, the restaurant, the gym, the office spaces, the lobby, the outdoor swimming pool, etc. is just as important as the actual living spaces. In our language, it means that all matching assets have to be collected, all materials and textures have to be perfect, and all the above-mentioned spaces have to be furnished and filled with carefully chosen characters to bring the image to life.
UNStudio’s perfectionism—when it comes to details—has inspired us in so many ways. It’s always a challenge to work with them, and it’s always worth it.
Project details
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Partner
Client
Team
Bence Falussy
Dávid Müller
Samer Saniour
Dorka Somlói
