Design Team: HALÜKAR ARCHITECTURE Gamze Iscan - Bilge Kalfa 201
Kemankes Karamustafa Pasa Mah., Ali Pasa Degirmeni Sk. 1/1, 34425 Karaköy/ Istanbul
Fil Books is a café and a book store in Ali Pasa Degirmeni Street, Karaköy which is designed by Halükar Architecture in 2015. It is placed in a six floored apartment which is actually all used by Fil Books but Halükar Architecture designed only the first two floors.
As a user, I can describe my first experience with Fil Books. As I walked by the Ali Pasa Degirmeni Street, I saw that there is a café that connects to the street and welcomes the people that walk pass there. It has a cream colored façade that gives you a calm, sincere feeling. It is settled on the corner of the street and it flows through the both of the streets that it is placed on. There are people that talking and drinking coffee with their friends and some of them read their book’s on their own. The friendly environment and the sweet melody that comes from the inside of the café simply welcome you to the inside.
The moment I enter the Fil Books the first thing I see is the coffee bar which is in the middle of the floor. There is a big baby blue coffee machine that covers the whole bar. You can understand that there is a color theme even if you only examine the bar tools and coffee glasses.
On the right there are sitting areas attached to the wall. In front of the sitting areas there are marble tables that complete the whole look of that area.
On the left there are bookshelves that domains the floor. It looks like they chose carefully the books that they put on the shelves. Because they are all art books and it gives a feeling that they organize and placed them considering the elevation. The whole composition of the shelves makes you want to take a look and read the books.
At first glance it seems to be too small to even stand in this dense space; but as you lost yourself through the books and coffee smell, you want to sit and spend some time in there. As I sit and examine the interior, I realized that there is a baby blue pipe that flows through the café. While flowing, it changes its function as well. It becomes a bookshelf, lighting, sitting area and hanger. As I tried to follow the pipe, I realize that there are stairs behind the coffee bar. But it is too small to just go and climb it. So after asking for permission, I climbed upstairs and see that the baby blue pipe flows through the gallery of the bookshelves and became an element of this floor as well. As a difference from the first floor, this floor only has sitting areas and the upper part of the bookshelves. This functional difference makes the second floor more quite and sincere than the first floor.
As I finish my tour, I grabbed a book from the shelves and started to enjoy my coffee and book.
While describing and analyzing the space of Fil Books, emphasizing on three main topics can help with understanding the ambience of that space. These three main topics are; the volume, the function and the color of the space. Through these subjects, my main aim is to describe Fil Books from users’ point of view.
Looking into the volume of the cafe; it has a small indoor space on the ground level. But with the overflow through to the outdoor, an illusion is created which makes the ground floor seems bigger than it actually is. This overflow is provided with the tables and the chairs that are put right outside the café. By this way, a solid connection is created between the inside of the café and the street. Despite these features, you can realize the smallness of the inside because of the denseness of the furniture settlement.
On the first floor there is a bar, a sitting area and a bookshelf which connects the first and second floors with a gallery space. On the second floor there are also sitting areas which has regular chairs but also swings as well. One of the main differences between these two floors is that the second floor has only sitting areas so that it seems emptier than the first floor. Although the differences between these floors, they are connected to each other very smoothly through the gallery and the small stairs which is the main stairs of the apartment.
Considering the different design of the floors, the usage and functions of them changes as well. Looking into the first floor, it is open to the street so that this floor has an interior circulation that connects with the street’s circulation. By this way, this floor has an interactive relationship with the outside, which makes the first floor crowded and loud. Spite of being a café, the first floor also serves as a book store, so there are users that just come and buy things then go. Considering this, the first floor has fast and dynamic circulation.
As describing the second floor, the first thing that must be analyzed is the stairs. Apartment’s main stairs are used by the Fil Books because of the lack of space. Beside the efficient use of space, using the same small stairs also made the second floor became isolated from the first floor. This isolation creates a sincere and quite space on this level which leads this floor to become a study area for users. Although the floors can be separated with these features, the gallery and bookshelves, connects the floors both visually and functionally.
Analyzing the color theme of the Fil Books; from the façade to interior walls, chairs to small objects there is a color code they use: baby blue and cream. As a difference from contemporary café themes, Fil Books use these light colors. The main reasons of this choice might be the friendly, warm feelings that cream and baby blue give and the fact that the interior space is small so that using these light colors make the space more spacious.
The exterior walls which are painted in cream, gives a warm welcome to its users. Baby blue chairs and pipes that functions as lighting gives a hint of the theme of Fil Books’ interior. On the interior walls the cream color painting continues but the frequency of the pipes increases. These pipes, which are the representation of elephant’s trunk and the main theme of the cafe, connects the outside to the inside and also connects the two floors. The pipe is the main theme of the cafe because it flows through the spaces and get transformed into different functions such as lighting, sitting area, bookshelf, and hanger.
Through this color code, cream and baby blue, the compact and small interior of the café does not overwhelm the customers. Actually the efficient use of space and the way the colors are used, gives a friendly and comfortable atmosphere.
As a conclusion Fil Books is a café and a book store that creates a connection between its interior and the street that it’s placed on. It welcomes the people that passing by that street. Although the café’s indoor spaces are small, the efficient use of furniture and space made the ambience of the café sincere and spacious.
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