Hydro (Latin)

Related to water; associated with water.

Phyle (Latin)

In antiquity, a term used to describe clans, a neighborhood, or a settlement.

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Hydrophile

Hydrophilic; aquatic; describing a molecule that loves, attracts, absorbs, and is capable of bonding with water.

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The Küçükçekmece Lake Basin, which has offered ideal living conditions to various civilizations throughout history thanks to its natural assets, is today confronted with numerous problems due to intense human pressure. In recent years, the exponentially increasing human population, the progressive pollution of the lake and Sazlıdere, and the gradual decline in the number of water birds constituting a significant part of the area’s fauna along the shores reveal the necessity of rethinking the basin through alternative conceptual frameworks.

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To develop such conceptualizations, a historical journey into the past of the basin is sufficient. In addition to the earliest human settlements in the Yarımburgaz Caves and the Firüzköy Peninsula, it is known that in antiquity there existed a settlement, namely a phyle located along the shores of the lake, named after the ancient name of Sazlıdere, the Bathinias River. A phyle named after water itself…

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The primary inspiration for our design emerges from this ancient port city, which clearly demonstrates a strong interaction with water through structures such as its water cistern and lighthouse. Our proposal begins by considering the relationship this phyle established with water as the cornerstone of a philosophy aimed at revitalizing the basin, and by suggesting new phyles at strategic points along Küçükçekmece Lake and Sazlıdere.

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A phyle in which nature, water, flora, and fauna remain permanent, while humans assume a role of dissolution and mediation within these layers, an active yet complementary presence. A fluid, responsive, and social phyle. While the city of Istanbul has, for centuries, constructed countless structures to transport water to people due to the distance between its centers of life and water resources, this hydrophyle proposes the opposite: a phyle that loves water, is nourished by it, and in which every element is capable of engaging with water.