Architects have often explored ways of subsuming the built into the natural and achieving harmony with nature. From Frank Lloyd Wright’s conception of organic architecture to the emulation of natural forms and systems through computation, design has often blurred lines between what is natural and what is manmade. The primary question is, how do you take the natural landscape and use it to your advantage, ensuring that built and unbuilt exist in perfect harmony? How do we ensure spaces that feel comfortable and emulate being within the natural world?

In the case of Turkey-based practice, Office Istanbul Architects’ Rubrum Office, the undulating landscape of the Izmir vineyards, with the linear alignment of the grapevines—strategically placed to maximise yield and guided by the prevailing winds in the area—becomes a major design reference that defines the structure's form. The subterranean structure, peeking out as walls and flat roofs against the idyllic landscape of olive trees and grapevines defines an office design that stands out yet seems at one with the landscape. At first glance, a series of retaining walls rise from the ground, aligned to the geometry of the propagating vines. Built for an agricultural company’s office, the building is located within a vineyard and olive grove in the verdant landscape of Seferihisar, İzmir.

Sunken into the land, the terracotta-hued walls of the design frame the geography, concealing and revealing it as one moves through the spaces. Glazed walls offer expansive views from the office interiors, where a new landscape opens up at each glance. The structure and arrangement of spaces in the office rely on these walls, done in an earth-based mineral plaster, acting as a guiding cue for visitors. These also frame a courtyard that becomes a pivot holding the different rooms together.

A place for reception and connection of different functions, it is designed as a sheltered space, acting as a passive design technique in providing comfort and protection against adverse climatic conditions, while also facilitating circulation between the surrounding spaces. As the architects state in an official press release, the courtyard design was inspired by the morphology of traditional Aegean houses, where interior spaces are centred around courtyards. These were further characterised by earth or stone floors, which is again reflected in the earthen colour of the walls and the pebbled floor finish.

Apart from drawing the spaces together and acting as a passive cooling device, the courtyard brings in natural light to the interior spaces, creating a light and airy atmosphere conducive to a good working environment. The main office spaces are minimally designed, including a storage space, a manager’s room and an open-plan workspace. Through the courtyard and the open circulation spaces, the design feels porous, subtly integrating into the vineyard.

Sometimes hidden within the topography, and sometimes stark against the blue skies and green vegetation, with the red symbolising the idea of rising from the earth, the recently completed Rubrum Office by Office Istanbul Architects is a testament to architectural ingenuity, seamlessly blending with the natural beauty of its surroundings where only walls stand between the blurring of internal and external space.

Project Details

Name: Rubrum Office
Location: İzmir, Turkey
Year of Completion: 2023
Site Area: 27,896 sqm
Built Area: 240 sqm
Design Team: Kemal Serkan Demir, Gizem Güleryüz, Lara Uyal, Murat Kumbaracı, Mine Öztürk
Consultants
Main Contractor: Office Istanbul Architects
Subcontractor: Semet Construction Company, Ata Construction Company
Assistants: Birol Mercan, Burhan Semet
Landscape Designers: Punica Landscape & Design