Karaköy Hotel is originally a restoration/transformation project of “Hovagimyan Han”.
‘Han’ means ‘little ottoman caravanserai-khan’ in Turkish. There are many khans located in the bohemian-historic district of İstanbul, Karaköy. Karaköy has also another important qualification like having a port and being a trade center for many years.
“Hovagimyan Han” has been built by an Ermenian architect called Levon Nafilyan in the 1920s. It can be considered as a beautiful example of art-noveau.
The hotel has 50 rooms along with a 2 floor restaurant having an entrance in the first floor. ZOOM Tpu tried to stick with the original design without making a lot of basic changes on the character of the structure. This is one of the reasons that the devices like electrical wiring are used outside of the wall with pipes instead of embedding it inside. This kind of details are used as a decorative unit.
For the restaurant, electrical and mechanical systems can also be seen from the outside because of the same reasons. The ceiling is covered with porous materials in bits such as mesh. White heat pendant lighting systems are used on the tables.
Concrete looking surfaces are used while protecting the buildings original wall texture. This concrete texture has been also created with plaster and carried to the whole design to have a unity.
Natural materials such as wood, parquet and marble is used in the hotel.
For the rooms; closets were offered to be designed with pipes and mesh in order to match with the whole concept. The windows of the toilets are transparent to take advantage of the daylight. On the other hand, they have an electrical system that gives you a chance to switch it to frosted glass.
While coming up with this design concept, ZOOM Tpu has tried to bring out the beauties of the original historic structure without using too many ornaments and other components.
About Karaköy: This district is under the Beyoglu-Taksim area, with a port to the Bosphorus. It has been getting very popular since 3-4 years. Many people has bought spaces to renovate for real estate purposes, which has been a very logical move. I could say it is similar to Marais of Paris…with so many history, very Bohemian coffee and tea shops. Nice design shops and galleries has opened since 2 years. Istanbul Modern museum is also in this area. The port is also in a renovation process now because it has’nt been used very properly, so there are too many hotel projects coming up.