A Life-giving Touch to Buca Train Station from Architect Candidates

Yaşar University Faculty of Architecture Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design final year students developed reuse proposals for the idle historical Buca Train Station and designed a "Linear Railway Park" on the old railway line connecting Buca and Şirinyer.

Students, who designed historical structures such as Alsancak Train Station, Electricity Factory, TMO Silos, Tekel Factory, Süngükaya and Sarpıncık Lighthouses, which had cost the city in previous years, with new functions by adapting them to today's conditions, this time from 1872 to 2006 in the Interior Design Studio. He designed the historical Buca Train Station, which has been in service for 134 years but is currently idle. In the studio carried out in cooperation with Yaşar University Faculty of Architecture, Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design and Istanbul MEF University, a “Linear Railway Park” was designed on the old railway line connecting Buca and Şirinyer, as well as the station. Under the coordination of Lecturer Sergio Taddonio, Dr. Faculty Member Ebru Karabağ Aydeniz, Dr. In the studies conducted by Lecturer Özge Başağaç and Research Assistant Özüm Karadağ, the students first examined the examples of railway heritage refunctioning carried out worldwide.

PROTECTING THE MEMORY OF THE SPACE

The first part of the project focused on the connection between Şirinyer and Buca, which was originally built as a branch of the İzmir-Aydin railway line but is not used today. This area has been re-evaluated as a potential site to create a "Linear Railroad Park" for outdoor activities and social gatherings. The tangible and intangible traces of the railway heritage were combined with new outdoor designs and landscape elements to create a series of proposals for the three-kilometer unused track and the environment. The second part of the project focused on the Buca Train Station buildings. Students developed proposals for the abandoned Buca Train Station and the chief's lodging, which were addressed through a new space program with social or cultural features, aimed at serving the local community. Preserving the 'memory' of the place and combining existing tracks with function established the reuse design goals for both structures.