Üzülmez Culture Valley

Designed by Buda Architecture, Üzülmez Culture Valley transforms an unused stock of industrial buildings into a vibrant cultural campus by merging spatial attitudes embedded in the urban memory with contemporary interventions.

“The landscape bears witness to the passing of time; it contains a living memory of all who have lived in it.”
— Tim Ingold

Üzülmez Washery is situated along the old Zonguldak–Ankara Highway, approximately 3 km from the city center. The site contains a collection of structures that have undergone various additions and removals over different periods. The oldest among them, the Washery Building, is distinguished by its rubble stone walls and wooden roof structure. Directly opposite this stands the workshop building, an early reinforced concrete structure that, due to necessary interventions, has deteriorated structurally.

The project’s initial approach embraces coal labor and the production process as a cultural richness and a memory fragment deserving protection. Accordingly, the site is regarded as a contextual cultural memory ground. The architectural intervention principles focus on removing unqualified additions while preserving original architectural elements with minimal intervention.

New structures envisaged within the cultural campus are designed as a bold exposition of the industrial buildings’ structural elements, responding to the new functions proposed. This structural expression, which has unconsciously become part of the city’s collective memory, now consciously shapes the identity of the new cultural campus.

Regarding the adaptive reuse of the buildings and site: the Washery Building is repurposed as a city museum, while the workshop building accommodates cultural and artistic functions. The lower level of the site is designed as a food and beverage area, with the upper level arranged to support various open-air events and activities.