A Tasarim Architect · CLIENT: A Tasarım Architect
Armada 3 is a mixed use architectural complex in Ankara, Turkey. The building combines upper segment retail, gastronomy areas, and office spaces across multiple above-ground levels, with a construction area of about 21,000 square meters. Entrances on several sides and a street like interior keep the complex open to the city. Step-back terraces and self-shading geometries support solar control and daylight. A reinforced concrete column grid allows flexible unit sizes and future reconfiguration. The facade uses high-performance glazing, insulated panels, and metal cladding.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Armada 3 operates as an urban connector rather than a closed commercial object. Its uniqueness lies in transforming a conventional mixed-use development into a piece of civic infrastructure that stitches together pedestrian flows, transportation networks, and public life.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Construction area of approximately 21,000 square meters, organized in multiple above-ground levels with integrated terraces and semi-open public platforms. Regular reinforced concrete column grid allows flexible unit sizing and future reconfiguration. Step-back massing optimizes solar control and daylight performance. Mixed-use program includes upper-segment retail, gastronomy areas, and office spaces, supported by integrated vertical circulation, service cores, and environmental performance strategies suitable for dense urban conditions.
- Tags
- Urban Integration, Mixed-Use Architecture,Retail Architecture, Public Space, Permeable Façade, Climate-Responsive Design, Urban Continuity,
- Production Technology
- The project is realized through a reinforced concrete structural system with a regular column grid, enabling modular flexibility and long-term adaptability. The façade combines high-performance glazing, opaque insulated panels, and metal cladding, supported by passive environmental strategies such as step-back terraces and self-shading geometries. Landscape elements, integrated lighting, and durable urban materials reinforce both climatic performance and public use.
- Design Challenge
- The primary challenge was to transform a conventional retail-led mixed-use program into an open, adaptable urban system without losing commercial viability. The project had to reconcile large-scale architectural presence with human-scale experience, integrate public circulation with private program, and respond to climate and daylight constraints. Balancing permeability, environmental performance, and long-term flexibility within a dense metropolitan context defined the core research and design challenge.
- Project Duration
- 2023–2027, Ankara, Turkey
- Operation Flow
- The building works by staying open to the city. People can enter from multiple sides, move naturally along a street-like interior, and shift easily between indoor and outdoor spaces. Terraces, passages, and transparent façades guide movement, bring in light, and invite public use, allowing the project to adapt smoothly to daily urban life rather than controlling it.
- Research
- This project investigates how large-scale commercial architecture can function as civic infrastructure within a metropolitan context. Through spatial continuity, environmental responsiveness, and mixed-use integration, the research explores permeability, adaptability, and urban connectivity as design drivers. Armada 3 serves as a case study demonstrating how contemporary retail-led developments can evolve into flexible urban frameworks that support public life, mobility, and long-term resilience rather than operating as isolated building objects.
- Inspiration
- The project was inspired by the need to reinterpret the shopping mall as an active component of urban infrastructure rather than an isolated object. Research into urban permeability, mixed-use hybridity, climate-responsive envelopes, and evolving retail behaviors informed a design approach that integrates civic space, environmental performance, and long-term spatial adaptability within a dense metropolitan context.
Press releases are available in 1 languages.