Practice among 13 appointed to draw up a vision for country’s devastated Hatay province
Foster & Partners is working on a masterplan for the reconstruction of the city of Antakya in south-east Turkey following the earthquake which devastated the region earlier this year.
The practice has been appointed alongside a team of 13 architects and urban designers including BIG and Turkish practices DB Architects and KEYM to draw up a vision for rebuilding the badly hit Hatay province.
Nearly half of the 50,783 people in Turkey who were killed by the 7.8-magnitude quake which struck shortly after 4am on 6 February and a 7.7-magnitude aftershock later that day lived in the province.
Around 80% of central Antakya, the largest city in Hatay, was destroyed, and around 10,000 buildings either collapsed or had to be demolished.
These included several historic sites in the 2,300-year-old city, known in antiquity as Antioch, including the Greek Orthodox St Paul’s Church and the Antakya Synagogue.
The team of practices has been brought together by the Türkiye Design Council (TDC), which is aiming to create a new “global approach” to rebuilding cities after natural disasters and to make the reconstruction of Hatay province a leading example of earthquake recovery.
Foster & Partners’ masterplan for central Antakya, the largest reconstruction scheme in the initiative, is set to be fully unveiled in 2024.
It aims to reimagine the city for future generations with improved climate resilience, connectivity, and social and environmental wellbeing, according to the TDC.
The plans, which are being supported by the Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, will also consider the location of central districts, administrative buildings and new infrastructure.
> Also read: Turkey Earthquake: More than 100 contractors facing arrest over collapsed buildings
TDC chairman Mehmet Kalyoncu said the appointments of the 13 practices are the “first step towards Hatay’s next chapter”.
“Following the earthquake, we experienced the biggest ever global co-operation for the relief effort,” he said.
“Now, we want this to be the biggest ever global collaboration of experts to shape the next era of Hatay.
“This province, and its centre Antakya, are places of great significance to humanity, both culturally and historically.
“It is a centuries-old place, and we have an enormous responsibility to its people and to honour its rich past while ensuring its vitality as a modern city continues for generations to come.
“If we are successful in Hatay, we can integrate this spirit of collaboration into other Turkish and international recovery and revitalisation efforts where local people most need them.”
Foster & Partners senior executive partner Nigel Dancey added: “Following the terrible tragedy that occurred on 6 February, we are looking forward to working with local communities and collaborating with architecture, planning, urban design and engineering experts in Turkey, to help develop plans for the historic city of Antakya.”
Antakya lies on a major fault line and has been destroyed by earthquakes several times in its history. Two earthquakes in 115AD and 526AD, when the city was one of the largest in the Mediterranean world, both killed around 250,000 people.
In April last year, Foster & Partners also unveiled plans for a reconstruction of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which lost nearly 2,000 buildings during Russia’s invasion of the country.
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