Project Details
The Suma Venue was essentially a restoration project. During construction the foundation walls turned out to be much older than initially thought, they were not dating back to 1902 as told but much older Genovese city walls. After the discovery, the protection and highlighting of these walls became the priority, and the design was altered accordingly.
The most difficult aspect of this project then became the leakage within the walls and how to control the water flow. More research then found that the leakage was actually caused by an old water source that after further analysis turned to be healthy drinking water.
The water was redirected to flow freely without damaging the building foundations and for that purpose channels were designed around the entire space that not only utilized the water for cleaning the space but to also give an outside feel to the space.
Ventilation
Another important issue that had to be dealt with the space was to control the air quality, since it was designed to cater for 700 people (including smokers). The air vents were therefore designed and placed to maximize air quality, humidity and give the inside venue a feel of the outside- which Istanbulites love.
Lighting and Acoustics
The lighting was designed in collaboration with EMFA Lighting, which also had a symbolic meaning since it was their factory at earlier periods. Acoustics of the space was another pivotal issue, since so many venues in Turkey are designed without paying serious attention to it. Sound engineers were commissioned for this project giving the venue a unique advantage over its competitors.
Murals
It was decided that grafittis and murals would add to the feeling of the outside to the venue. For this task graffiti artist Manoel Quiterio from Recife in Brazil was commissioned to paint 3 murals that, when combined with the lighting, would add extra dynamism to overall space.
SPECS
Suma Venue is located at the basement of the historic Suma Han building and it was the second leg of the Suma Han Revitalization Project. Pictures in this section were taken before the renovation took place in order to detect venue’s condition.
