• Steel
• Art
• Long Span Structures
• Historical

Saint Euphemia Archeological Frescos Protection Canopy In Sultanahmet-Hagia Sophia, the historic peninsula region of Istanbul, was planned due to the discovery of ruins of an ancient church and its frescoed walls in good condition from around 500 AD. The main challenge was to span the canopy covering 250 m2 without any intermediate columns or supports and with only a 1.75m total structural depth. The canopy shall “fly over” the ruined church wall with wall paintings with only point supports or columns around the perimeter. These points were pre-determined and asymmetrical, based on the archeological findings on the floor of the church. We were inspired by moving sculptures and subsequent roof design of a vineyard building by Santiago Calatrava and proposed undulating roof schemes. With the help of folding kinks, we were able to fit into the depth requirements from the top of columns to the tip of the canopy cantilevers. We coordinated the roof form with the pre-determined column locations. The main girder was spanning 22m with only 800mm structural depth to carry the entire canopy mid tributary area and cantilevers.