Akaretler Row Houses/W Hotel

Located at the center of Istanbul’s business and hotel district, Akaretler Row Houses were originally built in 1875 by Sarkis Balyan by the order of Sultan Abdülaziz, as an annex to the magnificent Domalbahçe Palace (residence of the Ottoman emperors). The first housing compound project for the Ottoman Empire, the houses represented one of the early cultural steps toward Westernization within the empire in the first quarter of the 19th century. This change is most evident in the neoclassical facade, lacking the influence of the previous baroque and rococo styles. The mixed-use project includes 34 businesses occupying 14,399 square meters (154,990 sf) of office space, 19,436 square meters (209,207 sf) of high-end shops and restaurants, 23 single-family housing units, 21 multifamily housing units, and a 134-room upscale hotel.

Meydan Shopping Square

Boasting one of the largest geothermal cooling and heating systems in all of Europe, Meydan Shopping Square, opened in August 2007 by METRO Group Asset Management GmbH & Co., is a 70,000-square-meter (753,474-sf) modern marketplace in the emerging Umraniye district of Istanbul, Turkey. Designed by Foreign Office Architects (FOA) of London, the 50-store shopping square […]

Kanyon

The Levent district—the financial heart of downtown Istanbul—had become disjointed and isolated, the result of rapid growth, the lack of a viable urban plan, and little collaboration among public agencies and developers. New development had put the needs of automobiles ahead of more pressing urban needs. The approximately 50,000 people who worked in the district had few places to socialize, entertain, or even walk along the street.