New is in and so is old
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Gül Tüysüz
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 30, 2008 00:00
ISTANBUL - Tamirane is a succesful restoration project that has tastefully turned a run down water pump station then repair shop into a hip restaurant, cafe, bar and performance space at Bilgi University’s SantralIstanbul campus
A quick free association Turkish lesson: tamir (repair), hane (place or house of), tamirhane (repair shop). The old tamirhane in SantralIstanbul, once a water pump station and later a large machinery repair shop, went through a linguistic change recently and lost its "h," but gained new functions. Tamirane is a hip new bar, cafe, restaurant and performance space in SantralIstanbul.
Walking onto Bilgi University’s SantralIstanbul campus is an experience in and of itself, but Tamirane stands out as a unique example of a restoration done right in a city where renewal sometimes takes on kitsch tastelessness.
Tamirane, once part of an industrial landscape, now has an earthy softness. The concrete and metal provide the right background for the creature comfort to flourish. Walking into Tamirane is like walking into the art studio of a friend who knows how to throw a really good dinner party. The high ceiling, bare concrete walls, heating grills dangling above and exposed piping gives the room an edginess that contrasts the beige sofas, wood tables and red paint on a metal ladder. "We wanted to break that industrial feel and soften the place with furniture," said Elif Ocak, one of Tamirane’s managers.
When the building first came to the attention of Ocak and her partner, Kerim Göknel, it was far from an easy fix. The duo, long entrenched in Bilgi and SantralIstanbul as both students and professionals, saw the facility in 2002, then decrepit and long abandoned, during an underground after-party that was held there. "It was covered in dirt and there were weeds and shrubs that had taken over the place," said Göknel. "We got the idea for the project long before there was anything here. When this was a swamp and the buildings looked liked they were about to fall over," said Ocak, 30.
Tamirane had its official opening Oct. 30, almost a year after SantralIstanbul opened in September 2007. It was left out of the general restoration project that revamped the old electric plant, but Göknel and Ocak took note of it and decided to rescue it from obscurity. "We used to joke about opening up a place together. We saw this building and thought, let us turn this into a Blue Note," Göknel said, referring to the legendary Jazz club in New York. "We started talking about how we could preserve it while adding something to it," Göknel said. They enlisted their friend, Gülşah Cantaş, as the interior decorator who would realize their concept: a caf, bar, restaurant and performance space that was at once raw, industrial, cozy and chic.
"We wanted to preserve the old and synthesize it with the new," said Ocak. "It is really a gentrification project. It is about taking a dysfunctional place and making it functional again," said Göknel.
Function and versatility
And functional it is. Serving as a caf, bar and restaurant, the venue also doubles as a performance space and exhibition platform. "The space is versatile and we wanted to make sure it stayed that way," Göknel said. All of the furniture can be removed making space for a stage and the partners seem sincere in letting artists make the most of Tamirane. "It can be anything, photography, digital art É It can be an installation, right there," Ocak said pointing to a spot by the DJ table, which is a unique preservation project in and of itself. "These were the doors to the water tanks," said Göknel. "We had legs made for it and its great for DJs because it weighs 750 kilos andprevents vibrations," he said.
This fondness for taking something old and giving it a new function is exactly what Tamirane is about. Finding the time to grab a coffee, catch a performance piece or browsing an exhibition here is a must, but then again those might just be excuses to see a building where old and new, and industrial and cozy are not opposites, but compliments. That is something we can only hope to see more of in Istanbul.
Walking onto Bilgi University’s SantralIstanbul campus is an experience in and of itself, but Tamirane stands out as a unique example of a restoration done right in a city where renewal sometimes takes on kitsch tastelessness.
Tamirane, once part of an industrial landscape, now has an earthy softness. The concrete and metal provide the right background for the creature comfort to flourish. Walking into Tamirane is like walking into the art studio of a friend who knows how to throw a really good dinner party. The high ceiling, bare concrete walls, heating grills dangling above and exposed piping gives the room an edginess that contrasts the beige sofas, wood tables and red paint on a metal ladder. "We wanted to break that industrial feel and soften the place with furniture," said Elif Ocak, one of Tamirane’s managers.
When the building first came to the attention of Ocak and her partner, Kerim Göknel, it was far from an easy fix. The duo, long entrenched in Bilgi and SantralIstanbul as both students and professionals, saw the facility in 2002, then decrepit and long abandoned, during an underground after-party that was held there. "It was covered in dirt and there were weeds and shrubs that had taken over the place," said Göknel. "We got the idea for the project long before there was anything here. When this was a swamp and the buildings looked liked they were about to fall over," said Ocak, 30.
Tamirane had its official opening Oct. 30, almost a year after SantralIstanbul opened in September 2007. It was left out of the general restoration project that revamped the old electric plant, but Göknel and Ocak took note of it and decided to rescue it from obscurity. "We used to joke about opening up a place together. We saw this building and thought, let us turn this into a Blue Note," Göknel said, referring to the legendary Jazz club in New York. "We started talking about how we could preserve it while adding something to it," Göknel said. They enlisted their friend, Gülşah Cantaş, as the interior decorator who would realize their concept: a caf, bar, restaurant and performance space that was at once raw, industrial, cozy and chic.
"We wanted to preserve the old and synthesize it with the new," said Ocak. "It is really a gentrification project. It is about taking a dysfunctional place and making it functional again," said Göknel.
Function and versatility
And functional it is. Serving as a caf, bar and restaurant, the venue also doubles as a performance space and exhibition platform. "The space is versatile and we wanted to make sure it stayed that way," Göknel said. All of the furniture can be removed making space for a stage and the partners seem sincere in letting artists make the most of Tamirane. "It can be anything, photography, digital art É It can be an installation, right there," Ocak said pointing to a spot by the DJ table, which is a unique preservation project in and of itself. "These were the doors to the water tanks," said Göknel. "We had legs made for it and its great for DJs because it weighs 750 kilos andprevents vibrations," he said.
This fondness for taking something old and giving it a new function is exactly what Tamirane is about. Finding the time to grab a coffee, catch a performance piece or browsing an exhibition here is a must, but then again those might just be excuses to see a building where old and new, and industrial and cozy are not opposites, but compliments. That is something we can only hope to see more of in Istanbul.