Angelos Organic Olive Oil Mill is a building that conceptually fits in with the architectural oeuvre of Han Tümertekin. It is located in the Bademli Mahallesi village near the city of Izmir in Turkey and is anchored in an impressive olive plantation (250,000 square meters) that overlooks the Aegean Sea. The location is characteristic for the Aegean landscape, enriched by the symbiosis of the sea, olives and stone structures. The problems of implementing an industrial building into a natural environment have become the guiding principle for the entire process of architectural creation; from the initial sketching phase, through design, to the realization of the project, in which the architect’s listening and understanding of space is manifested. Namely, this is not the first Tümertekin's realization in an olive grove – we could say that a similar premise appeared in his earlier projects, such as House A, which, despite its elongated form, almost chameleonically adopts the structure of the olive forest, open to the sea horizon. Tümertekin sometimes resorts to the modification of terrain on which the project is located (archaeological museum in Konyja), but the harmonious relationship among the form, the building and the space, which the architect realizes, is unquestionable.

 

The relation between function and space is not the only communication Han Tümertekin creates. From the beginning of the project Angelos Organic Olive Oil Mill’s contracting entity has put an emphasis on the oil production process, which, in contrast to the contemporary tendency of using a hydraulic oil pump, nurtures the traditional olive pressing process, with gravity forcing the olives to “dive” into the lower levels of the structure. The emphasis on tradition and its preservation is therefore read from respected and intact vegetation after the completion of construction, which is a possible link to the vocational training of the architect who was educated in the field of conservation at the University of Istanbul. We can talk about Tümertekin working with a feeling that goes beyond the often dominant technical features of the project. He prefers cooperating with local laborers and craftsmen using their skills and crafts, and this is precisely why the steel structure of oil refinery, made in Istanbul, was later supplemented with local stone construction. The construction is simple to maintain and was economically built using materials such as concrete, natural stone and galvanized steel. The architect creates coexistence of the private and public space – the space intended for sale is incorporated into the production complex and here is also an accommodation building in the vicinity, which ultimately results in a dynamic change of open and semi-open lines framed by an imposing copper roof structure that, like a shell, unites all of the space segments. The decision to use copper is not a coincidence; its colour will eventually completely blend with the colour of the nearby olive treetops.