Akşan’s Comment
Although I’ve been living in Istanbul since 1990, I grew up in Izmir and attended Izmir Turkish College middle and high school. I also went to the Dokuz Eylul University, Engineering and Architecture Faculty, Civil Engineering Department. My deceased father was also a civil engineer and completed many successful projects in Izmir.
My professional life started in Istanbul together with my sister Muge and brother Mert, who were also brought up in Izmir and who are engineers just like me. Though we still work in Istanbul, it has always been our ideal to have a successful project in Izmir. Our desire to realize this ideal was removed from commercial worries; it was something stronger, more different and more sincere. We felt the need to contribute to Izmir and add new value to the city.
Izmir, the city which raised us, needed to see us and be proud of us. It was high time. We needed to have a contribution that would solve Izmir’s problems and surprise everyone. In fact, we have never wanted to waste time being ordinary. The idea of 35th Street invokes all these feelings in our hearts.
We wanted to make such a residence project that it both brings a solution to the earthquake problem of Izmir and offers an independent life protecting neighborhood relationships in Izmir. It should be both a first in our country and the sector while being environmentally friendly and creating spaces in which to conduct various social activities and be economically feasible compared to apartment blocks.
Our dear architect Mehmet appeared on stage just at that moment and drew a 2 km long apartment block. Then, he pushed it aside, making it fall down and lie horizontally on the floor. This was the birth of 35th Street, in a way that is very appropriate to the cultural life of Izmir.
As Akşan, we have always wanted to run after ideas which are different but which will make a contribution to our country for years. We believe that the project of 35th Street will open a new door and surprise everyone, both in Izmir and in Turkey, as it will be a project which will be owned and enjoyed by those who know what they want from life.
Hope to see you on 35th Street...
Civil Engineer
Chairman of the Board
Yönetim Kurulu Başkanı