Dalyan House

The project in Dalyan, Çeşme, has a total construction area of 145 square meters (63 and 82 square meters on the ground and upper floors, respectively) excluding the basement. The client requested a plan consisting of three bedrooms with bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. We began the project after analyzing the plan and land data.

We encountered two elements that limited our planning and guided our design decisions: insufficient space for the building after the setback distances; and the land’s sloping structure.

We used the entire area remaining after the setback distances on the ground floor as closed volume forming the actual mass of the building. In addition to this continued mass on the upper floor, we planned open and closed cantilevers to increase the usage area on the floor. We integrated the cantilevers asymmetrically to the building as open or closed, considering them as a single architectural mass, and they constituted the main determinant of our design. The front facade of this mass was entirely open, while the other facades were designed as surfaces featuring spaces with a certain rhythm.

We utilized materials suitable for Çeşme's climate and environmental conditions regarding color, texture, and physical properties. We employed natural stone in the facades of the main mass, which started on the basement floor and continued all the way to the ground and upper floors. A textured white paint and coating were deemed suitable to cover the plaster for the top floor cantilevers. We selected a dark color for the aluminum frames and roofing, to create a contrast with the light color on both the natural stone and painted surfaces.

In terms of planning, we designed the kitchen, living spaces and the master bedroom on the upper floor, as it offered a more convenient usage area and a clearer landscape view than the ground floor. This floor’s landscape facade consisted completely of aluminum framing and transparent glass. This open cantilever appeared as a balcony extending from the living space and master bedroom, while the cantilever at the road facade provided additional space to the living room and functioned as an alternative kitchen balcony. The sloping site provided access to the building via a bridge connected to the main road. Access from the entry to the garden space on the ground floor was granted with exterior stairs connected to the entrance bridge.

One can access the ground floor hall inside the building with a staircase. The front terrace on the ground floor can be directly accessed from this hall. We planned rooms with bathrooms on both sides of the hall. These rooms, with front facades composed completely of aluminum framing and transparent glass, extend to the floor terrace.

Our objective at the end of this journey was to achieve a serene yet bold, contemporary, and simple design that merges aesthetics with a balanced combination of form and function rather than with decorative elements.