AGU SUMER CAMPUS

This 350.000-square-meter project involves the conversion of the former Sümerbank textile factory, built in 1933 by a group of Russian architects led by Ivan
Nikolaev. It is located in Kayseri, in Central Anatolia.

The factory, which was shut down in 1999, was long considered an important symbol of industrialization and modernization in republican Turkey. Turned over to Abdullah Gül University (AGU), it is destined to become a new campus that will include both educational and administrative facilities. The goal of the project includes making the new facility into a social and academic center for Kayseri, still considered to be a “provincial” city.

The architects have given priority to retaining much of the original industrial character of the complex. An existing small warehouse structure, a more recent addition to the factory, will see its roof removed and replacing it with a canopy and the addition of upper-level spaces. New buildings will house a food court, and the old “orangerie” which will serve as an urban farm for growing of local herbs, was conceived as the interface between the city and the university. *