The project site is in the centre of the Beykoz district of Istanbul. Behind the district’s slopes facing the Bosphorus, it takes in an entire, very steep mountain slope. The slope right behind it has a neighbourhood fabric of 2–3 storey buildings, while our site looks out over forest and, in part, the Bosphorus. The brief was to bring together six high schools from the district centre on this site and create a high school campus. 

On a site where the slope is so dominant that it could directly shape almost the entire design, the approach to topography seemed the primary issue. The clients’ wish for all six schools on the site to be designed independently of one another was another important factor in setting the overall layout. 

On the slopes, an idea was developed that tames the incline without damaging the soil too much, merges with the hillside and creates no skyline problem in its surroundings. The whole site was terraced as if it were a structural surface, creating layers. The places best suited to building were then identified and these layers turned into terraced buildings. Limiting the buildings to 2 storeys created the image that all of them are one with the earth. 
Because each floor appears to work like a basement, the terrace of one school began to work like the garden of another. This created a settlement that, from above, gives the impression that no building rises on the site at all.