Sited along a gentle slope, this co-educational residence provides much-needed student housing for Bilkent University’s main campus in western Ankara. The constricted project site, adjacent to another, older student residence building, led the design team to distribute the program in an L-shaped configuration to create a courtyard between the two structures. The longer of the new building’s two wings is adjacent to, and as far as possible from, the existing dormitory, allowing ample sunlight to reach the courtyard.

The building is deeply inspired by the Passive House Standard, utilizing ample insulation, thermal bridge mitigation, enhanced airtightness measures, triple glazing, and energy recovery ventilation. Each façade is designed to optimize its specific solar orientation. A nearly one meter depth on the east- and west-facing façades provides interior shading, and external shading devices protect a south-facing curtain wall. All spaces rely on natural ventilation and passive cooling.

A syncopated façade pattern avoids creating the typical gridded institutionalized aesthetic, and accommodates room modules that are slightly wider than that which is typical for student housing. Tuned to the local climate and clad in Turkish travertine and basalt stone, the student residence is in harmony with its environment—both physically and aesthetically.