PILEVNELI Project presents in collaboration with EAA Emre Arolat Architecture
“Mecidiyeköy Liqueur and Cognac Factory As The Daring Move Of The Young Republic and More: Grumbling In The Context Of City Memory”
PILEVNELI Mecidiyeköy
February 12 - March 24, 2019
PILEVNELI Project will be hosting EAA Emre Arolat Architecture’s exhibition titled “Mecidiyeköy Liqueur and Cognac Factory As The Daring Move Of The Young Republic and More: Murmurings In The Context Of City Memory EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture” from February 12, 2019 to March 24, 2019 at PILEVNELI Mecidiyeköy.
At the beginning of the 2000s, some of the estates situated within the public properties in Istanbul went through privatization due to the fact that the buildings located within these lands have lost their function. Privatization was also carried out in order to evaluate the future potential of these properties since they were mostly located in city centers. One of these tenders which generated a lot of interest in public was the privatization process of the estate which Mecidiyeköy Liqueur and Cognac Factory was located.
It was no surprise when members of the public showed concern during this privatization process since they were the ones who acknowledged the historical significance of the building as well as the value of the greenery which both resided in the social and physical memory of the city. They regarded the greenery as the fresh breathing ground of Mecidiyeköy neighborhood and the industrial factory as cultural legacy, aware both can not be substituted for.
The work carried out by EAA between 2009-2018 was aimed at formulating a project that utilized the potential of the “space” in a positive manner, restoring the present factory structure to the uphold value it deserves and bringing a substantial part of the space to the city’s and the citizens’ use. The Mecidiyeköy Liquor and Cognac Factory was originally designed in the early 1930’s by one of the leading architects of the period; French architect Robert Mallet-Stevens. It was built in a land covered with mulberry trees.
Displaying the period’s modernist tendencies, the horizontal, robust and dramatic structure which was rooted in the city’s memory had completely lost its very own essential qualities since it was exposed to various restoring activities as well as additions and interventions in time which were carried out without taste and refinement.
The projects aim was to reclaim the buildings authentic architectural identity, reveal the perceptions of its inner and the outer structural language and to maintain these qualities when the building was restored back to functioning.
Following the meticulously prepared restoration and restitution projects within the scope of the work that was carried out in this context, reconstructing the building while keeping true to its original form was the only option which made sense since the building was structurally exhausted and stripped from its authentic qualities. Mecidiyeköy Liquor and Cognac Factory was reconstructed all over again to be utilized for cultural purposes, in its original location.
The exhibition titled “Mecidiyeköy Liqueur and Cognac Factory As The Daring Move Of The Young Republic and More: Grumbling In The Context Of City Memory EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture” which will be hosted by PILEVNELI Project at PILEVNELI Mecidiyeköy will focus on the course of the Liquor Factory from the early 1930’s up until today, which recently generated a great deal of public interest.
The exhibition will reveal all the phases of evolution the building went through from the initial project until now with great clarity. The exhibition will attempt to answer all current questions regarding this building via official documents and previous works carried out by different teams. This exhibition will not only provide the grounds for the residents of the city and and the building to get together but it will also contain examples of various re-operating projects carried out by EAA in different geographies.