Marie Claire Maison - Mediterranean Spirit / NC Residence

We asked interior architect Umut Mehmet Gürler about NC Residence in Antalya.

Could you outline the story of the project?

NC Residence in Antalya is a summer house, built on a 400-square-metre plot. Summer houses are no longer only places to rest, and the way we design their interiors has changed with that. Here we started from the owner's comfort and needs. We used the space carefully. Resting areas, and rooms for time with family and friends, were given plenty of room. We kept the ease of a summer house and did not set elegance aside.

How were the design and the building work planned?

In the design we bring the client's wishes together with our own professional view. What matters is a clear architectural line that still meets the need. Because we carry out many stages under our own name, we plan the work from start to finish. Working with our own teams makes the job faster.

How do you talk with the owners? How do you hear what they want?

The client's wishes set the course of a project. The home they picture is one of the main points. For us, their satisfaction is the spirit of the work. We mix their values and their wish to make it their own with our ideas, so the result pleases them. We meet to listen, then walk the place together and exchange ideas.

Which materials, furniture and lighting did you use in this project?

High ceilings and pastel tones keep these rooms airy. Windows that fill a whole wall make the interior feel larger, and the view can be seen from across the home. The furniture mixes modern and traditional lines, in black and cream, with wood and earth tones. Lights hang from the high ceiling, in keeping with that quiet, elegant line. The calm comes from the balance of the colours.

In the workshop, a team of more than thirty people handles the design, the building work (walls, plaster, paint, ceramic, electrical, plumbing, steel, aluminium and glass) and the furniture in-house. That holds the cost down, keeps the quality, and leaves aftercare and the guarantee in place.

What is your design philosophy?

We carry an idea from the concept through to the finished work. We believe in tradition and bring it into what is new. Each project should have its own artistic image and a practical answer.

Which projects have you completed?

Alongside IK Residence at Teona Ümitköy, on 400 square metres, and SY Residence at Hittown Batıkent, on 800 square metres, there is the office we designed for the TÜVTÜRK Ankara regional office, and Doğruer Hotel in Bodrum, among other finished and ongoing work.

How long have you been practising?

We founded the firm in 2009. Since then the practice has grown through the service, the range of work and the coordination. Creativity and aesthetics sit beside planning, experience, teamwork, pace and budget control.

Prepared by: Çiğdem Hasanoğlu