KA House

Location: Erzincan, Turkey

Architect: Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Architects

Client: K.A.

Material: Steel & Wood

Design date: 2013

Completion date: 2016

Built area: 468m²

Architect: Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Architects

Design Team: Hasan Çalışlar, Zeynep Şankaynağı, Duygu Uzunalı, Mustafa Tural

Photography: Cemal Emden

Story:

Text provided by the architects:

KA House is owned by an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist and director. In addition to his creative endeavors, the artist in question discovered his passion for farming and animal husbandry and decided to explore this passion first by building a house on one of the properties he inherited from his family. He imagined the house both as a private residence he could inhabit while he tended to farm and a kind of sanctuary in which he could concentrate on his art. In doing so, he also envisaged an additional and independent studio/room that could periodically accommodate global intellectuals and academics that would need space to work on a specific project.

Isolated from its surroundings by a dense cluster of trees, the property in question overlooks a spectacular view of Munzır Mountains. Providing maximum privacy was one of the prerequisites in designing the house, which demanded, by extension, ensuring that the use of the outdoor area and the interior spaces of the house are not visible to local neighbors.

The property’s location away from Erzincan’s town center lacks the facilities for easy construction. Therefore, the building was designed with a steel load-bearing system manufactured in Kocaeli and assembled on site. The quality of construction was further augmented through the use of drywall systems on the roof and the exterior walls.

The devastating consequences of the two major earthquakes Erzincan suffered in 1939 and 1992 are still very much alive in the collective memory. Therefore, one of the primary objectives of the design was to create a sense of being in a safe and durable structure, both for the inhabitants and their prospective visitors. Hence, the steel structure was also made visible in the interior, contributing to the perception of a studio/home atmosphere of the space.

Although the studio/home is a single mass in which all the spaces maintain a visual relationship, the studio area has separate access from the outside, which, in turn, was resolved by building a single canopy for the entrances of the house and the studio. A void created at the center of this mass facilitates access from different directions. Hence, the thresholds are sheltered from the cold and snowy winter days of Erzincan. Despite being located at its center, this particular design does not affect the depth perception of the property.

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