Trees will grow on the balconies of Istanbul’s honeycomb-like apartments

<a href="https://inhabitat.com/tag/istanbul" target="_blank">Istanbul</a> is on track for a stunning new landmark that’ll bring rural living to the heart of the city. International architecture studio <a href="http://eraycarbajo.com" target="_blank">Eray Carbajo</a> designed Urban Rural, a modular residential high-rise that aims to raise the bar for sustainable development in Turkey’s capital. The modular units will fit together into a honeycomb-like volume with a balcony filled with greenery.

The design of the Urban Rural building began with an abstraction of the traditional gabled rural house and garden.

The architects created a “hybrid model” that integrates those rural aspects into a hexagonal modular unit.

The architects say that use of a hexagonal grid will maximize the building volume while minimizing the number of building elements needed.

“One hexagon unit consists a polygonal area to inhabit and a triangular cavity to be used as an irrigable garden,” write the architects. “When all modules combined, these triangle cavities act as a truss structure transferring the building's loads to lower members. As a whole, Urban Rural creates interdependencies between building systems, structure, landscape and architecture. Integration of such complex systems are achieved through modular design that persevere flexibility.”

The modular high-rise would be built of locally sourced materials.

Urban Rural by Eray Carbajo