The new YTONG Headquarters in Istanbul translates the identity of one of Xella’s most significant building materials directly into architecture. A clear, monolithic volume stands in the urban landscape like an oversized building block. Yet its true meaning emerges from what is taken away from it: the void.
A courtyard is carved from the centre of the block, becoming a shared space for life and work around which administration, marketing and development are organized. Visual connections, terraces and galleries bring people together, transforming the office building into a small community — a city within the block.
Towards the outside, the building remains calm, precise and tectonic. It does not imitate YTONG; it embodies its principle:
The stone forms the body.
The void creates the space.
The human being gives meaning to both.
