Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

Ecosystem regeneration and urban re-engagement program

Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

Ecosystem regeneration and urban re-engagement program

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Restoration of the stream bed and Integration of stormwater infrastructure with green infiltration areas, rain gardens and bioswales.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    A co-habitat through stream: water to connect and shape Tuzla’s natural landscape and daily life.

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    Presentation of the Holcim Awards 2023 Silver for Middle East & Africa

    For Stream Co-Habitat, Tuzla, Turkey (l-r): Laura Viscovich, Executive Director, Holcim Foundation; Lesley Lokko OBE (Chair of Jury), Founder & Director of African Futures Institute, Accra, Ghana and Curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia; Zuhal Kol and Carlos Zarco Sanz, Openact Architecture; and Priya Pawar, Program Manager – Holcim Awards, Holcim Foundation.

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    Holcim Awards 2023 prize announcement - Stream Co-Habitat

    Presenting the Holcim Awards 2023 Silver winner for Middle East & Africa - Stream Co-Habitat.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    A framework that connects and restores: landscape design for socio-ecological recovery to mitigate the effects of rapid industrialization and urbanization Tuzla.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Restoration of the stream bed and Integration of stormwater infrastructure with green infiltration areas, rain gardens and bioswales.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Socio-ecological recovery: promoting public health for the community within ecology by diversifying options for recreation and play.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Equity for Community: creating playgrounds and sport areas in addition to recreational green spaces to provide for access to health-promoting public resources.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    1st phase area: ecological backbone for neighborhood and traffic evaporation: from asphalt to green.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    2nd and 3rd phase areas: connection with lake and sea.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    The project creates a continuous green corridor, connecting fragmented green spaces to form an ecological backbone. It provides access to schools, public buildings, and amenities via pedestrian and bike paths, allowing residents to meet their daily movement, sports, and social needs, while also enabling inter-neighbourhood mobility.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Participatory co-design and community engagement.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    A framework that connects and restores: ecological loop.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    A framework that connects and restores: programmatic loop.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    A framework that connects and restores: circulation loop.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    A co-habitat through stream: water to connect and shape Tuzla’s natural landscape and daily life. Image: Egemen Karakaya.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Ecological backbone for neighborhood and traffic evaporation: from asphalt to green. Image: Egemen Karakaya.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Restoration of the stream bed and Integration of stormwater infrastructure with green infiltration areas, rain gardens and bioswales. Image: Egemen Karakaya.

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    Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

    Openact Architecture (l-r): Carlos Zarco Sanz and Zuhal Kol.

  • Awards Silver 2023 Middle East & Africa

An ecosystem regeneration and urban re-engagement program that aims to develop a design scheme based on the waterlines shaping Tuzla’s natural landscape and lifestyle while reconnecting it to its historical and cultural roots.

By Zuhal Kol, Carlos Zarco Sanz - Openact Architecture, Madrid, Spain

Located in the very east of Istanbul, Tuzla Peninsula has a diverse history of salt production, fishing, being a destination for healing waters, and agricultural production during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. However, the rapid industrialization and urbanization during the 1950s to 1970s resulted in the transformation of Tuzla into a major industrial area with shipyards and military barracks. The unplanned growth has affected the natural water sources and connectivity within the area. To recover Tuzla’s water related dynamic identity, the project incorporates the natural water sources as a core element in the neighborhood, district, and city scales.

Stream Co-Habitat

Project authors

  • Zuhal Kol

    Openact Architecture

    Spain

  • Carlos Zarco Sanz

    Openact Architecture

    Spain

Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

Ecological backbone for neighborhood and traffic evaporation: from asphalt to green. Image: Egemen Karakaya.

Through protection, restoration, and participation of the water sources in daily life, the project aims to develop a design scheme that is based on the waterline(s), shaping Tuzla’s natural landscape and lifestyle while connecting it to its historical and cultural roots. Following the route of Tuzla’s Umur Stream and harmonizing green patches between the lake and the sea, the project establishes a looping framework that defines the urban, ecological and infrastructural design to reconnect the city and the ecosystem through careful interventions. 

Elements include 8.9km of cycleways, conversion of 11,000 square meters of pathway surface from asphalt to a permeable green surface, together with habitat restoration, runoff water filtering via bioswales, and creating nesting areas for fauna. Discovering non-invasive socio-ecological encounters, it aims to develop socio-cultural density without being necessarily urban, and envisions to provide a mutually harmonized common habitat balancing human use, ecological processes and natural preservation.

The first landscape plantings were conducted in 2024, and within one year there has been a noticeable return of bees, butterflies and birds to the area as the waterways are uncovered and the site begins to be restored.

Project status: Under construction (commenced June 2022).

A project that stands as a transformative force within this region, grappling with the challenges posed by rapid urbanization and industrialization. Holcim Awards 2023 Jury for Middle East & Africa

Holcim Awards 2023 prize announcement - Stream Co-Habitat

Presenting the Holcim Awards 2023 Silver winner for Middle East & Africa - Stream Co-Habitat.

Words with winners

Meet Openact Architecture, one of the visionary emerging practices behind the Tuzla Stream Co-habitat project, which earned them a Holcim Foundation Award in 2023. We had the chance to sit down with architects Carlos Zarco Sanz and Zuhal Kol, whose base is between Istanbul and Madrid, for an exclusive interview in our Words with Winners series. They shared the story behind their incredible urban regeneration project in Tuzla, Istanbul – an area that transformed from an agricultural town to an industrial hub.

Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

The project creates a continuous green corridor, connecting fragmented green spaces to form an ecological backbone. It provides access to schools, public buildings, and amenities via pedestrian and bike paths, allowing residents to meet their daily movement, sports, and social needs, while also enabling inter-neighbourhood mobility.

Their transformative landscape project reweaves the natural and urban fabric of Tuzla, integrating water and creating a green corridor along the Umur Stream. By harmonizing green patches between an inland lake and the sea, it establishes a looping framework that defines urban, ecological, and infrastructural design, reconnecting the city with its natural surroundings.

Holcim Foundation Awards 2025

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Holcim Foundation Awards Microsite
  • “The city of Istanbul has many complex issues, from political to economic, to ecological problems and climate problems - the project was trying to tackle all these problems together, with a broader vision.”

    Carlos Zarco Sanz | Architect & Founder, Openact Architecture, Spain

Project authors

  • Zuhal Kol

    Architect, Openact Architecture

    Spain

  • Carlos Zarco Sanz

    Architect, Openact Architecture

    Spain

Jury appraisal

The project was recognized for standing as a transformative force within this region, grappling with the challenges posed by rapid urbanization and industrialization. The jurors were deeply struck by the comprehensive and meticulously crafted nature of the project that emerges as a complete ecosystem of regeneration, seamlessly integrating a scheme for revitalization, a dynamic program layout, and a deeply engaged community framework. The approach used to restore Tuzla’s dynamic identity through a profound reverence for “water” as a shared heritage of both nature and humanity, was highly regarded. The jury applauded how narrative threads of this heritage are meticulously traced through a vibrant ecological belt, an innovative circulatory loop, and a socially dynamic network. Central to the project’s essence is the incorporation of co-design participatory processes, which was particularly appreciated. This inclusive approach led to a diverse influx of feedback from the local community, which was  recognized as crucial for the project’s success. 

Additionally, the jury commended the exceptional level of detail of the proposal encompassing a number of elements from landscape architecture and water management to mobility infrastructure and public amenities. Overall, the project’s impact transcends its blueprint, emerging as a beacon of transformation within a region marred by challenges. Its embrace of co-design, meticulous attention to various facets, and its restorative approach to land all combine to signify its remarkable potential in revitalizing the local ecosystem and nurturing vibrant, sustainable communities.

Stream Co-Habitat in Turkey

Restoration of the stream bed and Integration of stormwater infrastructure with green infiltration areas, rain gardens and bioswales.

Project updates