Campus Masterplan
Anti-Ankara: walkability-optimized metabolic campus in Turkey's car-dependent capital.
Ankara is a case study in how not to build cities. Our Urban Metabolism research documents its circulation failures (congestion index 1.82), communication failures (no walkable mixed-use cores), and identity failure (8,000+ demolished historic buildings). This campus project is an explicit counter-proposal.
The 50-hectare innovation campus applies our Garden City Revisited research: a radial backbone infrastructure with rhizomatic infill zones. Rather than zoning separate functions, we mixed academic (40%), residential (30%), and commercial (20%) uses based on Space Syntax integration values—high-integration axes receive public functions; low-integration zones host residential clusters.
No point on campus is more than 5 minutes' walk from a transit node, food vendor, and green space. This is the "15-minute neighborhood" principle applied at university scale.
Expand a 1960s car-centric campus into a walkable innovation district that connects seamlessly with surrounding city fabric, despite Ankara's fragmented street network and car-dependency culture.
Research-Driven Design
Space Syntax Analysis
We mapped the existing campus + surrounding 2km radius for integration, connectivity, and choice values. Key finding: the current campus spine has a choice value of 0.23 (disconnected from city). Our proposal creates 3 new pedestrian connections that raise this to 0.67.
Solar Envelope Generation
Building heights limited by a solar envelope calculation ensuring all 12 public plazas receive ≥4 hours of winter sun (Dec 21). This capped tower heights at 8 stories on the south edge, 12 stories on the north.
Blue-Green Infrastructure
A parametric bioswale network manages 100% of stormwater runoff on-site (net-zero discharge). The 3.2km of swales double as pedestrian greenways, informed by our Emergent Complexes Physarum algorithm for path generation.
Polycentric Program Distribution
Following Garden City Revisited findings, we distributed 5 micro-centers rather than one dominant core. Each micro-center has a café, study space, and maker lab. Retail viability modeling predicted 34% higher foot traffic than monocentric alternatives.
Performance Metrics
Polycentric campus aerial view 
Pedestrian flow analysis 
Library and learning hub From Research to Product
- Fraktal
- Traffic Modeling: Arup (consultant)
Bilkent University Expansion Board
Interested in masterplan design?
We bring algorithmic optimization to projects at every scale. Let's discuss your next challenge.