Kandilli House | Ofist

Is a 100 sqm cozy little home in a pleasant garden facing the beautiful Bosphorus, designed by Ofist for a young man in his mid 30’s, who tries to stay away from technology, avoids social media and most apps, although owning a successful technology based business.

Originally from a Mediterranean village, he still spends all his vacations back home where he grew up and enjoys the peacefulness of the raw, primitive life.  He likes carpentry and spends time in the farm.  

A life in between two chaotic metropolises like Istanbul and London, this little house is designed as a synthesis of a village and a city house.  It is designed for just the basic needs of the lessened life and not one single additional thing.  Very functional and just enough.  Nestling over Bosphorus, the traditional feelings, local textures, kilims, fabrics and habits act as the main characteristic of the house, where as the base design is sleek, modern and tranquil, since living and working in the middle of the busy city in the year 2020, requires a modern and practical living.

In a calm and quiet home life, when gathered with friends, they make music with electronic and acoustic musical instruments like traditional saz, piano, oud, godin multioud and etc. He likes reading and gazing through encyclopedias a lot and spends most of the daily home life with books and musical instruments.  He collects rare books and engravings of Istanbul, especially of 17th century Konstantinapolis.  One of the two engravings in the house is Melling’s Buyuk Dere portrait, and the other is a rare old panorama.   He doesn’t watch tv, but use it for Netflix and Playstation, but even then he always has an instrument in hand.

The living room is designed in two sections; one step elevated seating area to embrace the beautiful view and the garden which also hosts the traditional way of dining on sini (coffee) table ,and the music corner in front of the fireplace. The continuous  bookshelf connects both spaces.

The shelving system creates a window between the seating area and the entrance hall, connecting the two spaces and bringing light to the corridor.  The mosaic tiles in the entrance imitate the kilims placed all around for a pleasant feeling for the naked feet.  A huge Devrim Erbil painting of Istanbul panorama takes its place in this hall. 

With little need of storage the bedroom is designed spacious. The bathroom and the wc walls are covered with handmade ceramic tiles, with the oak parquet flooring used all around the house, and with kilims accompanied.

The garden provides a few different seating area options.  A glass covered all season seating area, a wooden deck over Bosphorus, and a dining area under the vine.