Interview with Quark Studio Architects

Our company is formed by individuals who think they must design to make a world a better place. So it's an educated preference.

We mainly focus on the challenge. We try to respond it as best as we can while making sure that the response provided is both sustainable and beautiful.

Excitement and fulfillment.

We believe that being analytical people helps a lot when designing. Especially when analyzing the challenge and making sure that the solution counts.

We try to shift our aspect more to institutional projects such as hospitals and healthcare facilities. Our dream project would be an airport.

Observe, iterate, and do.

The best practice would be to study previous design responses given to major challenges and try to derivate as much as possible from them.

The usual day goes with responding to emails. Taking care of previous days of design works. Making sure that they are neat and perfect. Every once in awhile getting busy with clients as well.

Design trends matter only if they present a new approach to already existing challenges. We follow a lot of publications digitally.

We as architects generally know where to look at. Most of the time, as they say, the devil is hidden in the details. An idea can be conceptualized very well but as long as the details are not perfect we cannot say that its perfectly designed.

The design is never ready. Only the deadline is above us. There is always room for a design to get better.

It is a mixed-use project consisting of a hotel, 72 villas, restaurants, and spa facilities.

3XN, Snohetta, UN Studio.

We are three architects coming from totally different cultures. So what matters in our union is the diversity rather than the feats of a specific cultural background. This diversity proves itself useful when trying to approach challenges fro multiple possible ways.

We value and maintain a fun, friendly and innovative place where everyone is valued and looked after. We know that every client is different and each project expresses unique goals and aspirations. Together, we create places that connect, engage and inspire.

we haven't done such a thing yet. We are still a very young company.

We are very happy that our work is recognized internationally and awarded. That is providing more motivation and as it is very well known, motivation usually brings innovation.

It wasn't a choice it was more of a natural turn of events leading all of us in this way. As you may as well know, most of the important turn of events are happening naturally.

All of us have chosen to become designers. We would like to be able to respond at least some of the challenges we all face.

We mostly design residential buildings. However, we would like to design more institutional buildings, such as hospitals where specialized data and knowledge are very important.

Observe and implement. Most of all, to create something you should be brave and let yourself free so that you can make the best use of your inspiration.

Some small things. Details and sustainability.

The depth of detail, the devil is in the detail when it comes to design.

Design optimises everything, life quality, budgets, long term costs, wellbeing. Optimization is the key to our world of today.

An airport for a big city. That's kind of an ultimate goal for many designers.

An airport. We are working our way to it, however.

Its observation and trying to be intuitive. Of course, we should always keep in mind the initial starting ground of the design. Why this design was needed and why am I here. Our response to the initial challenge should be bold.

SOM, UNstudio, 3XN, BIG.

We like all the innovative designs and designers. We like people who design not only for today, but also for tomorrow's.

Iasos Villas, the generous nature there helped us a lot to make everything functional and beautiful. Plus, it is really nice to see how it is blended into nature itself.

Observe, observe, and observe again. There are so many answers lying around us, we just need to locate and implement them.

IT business.

It's thinking practice where you think for others, their wellbeing, and the optimisation of their daily lives.

Some of our clients. Most of the times the clients and the works themselves are helping the designerto achieve better.

Failures. Failures are a great means for learning.

Customer relations. In design business making a name for yourself is a steep process. The only helpers are determination and perseverance.

With a good portfolio where the imagery and textual content is well balanced.

A hospital and multiple residential projects.

To design an airport.

Perfect designs. Funny to say there is probably not such a thing like "the perfect design". There is always room for betterment and improvement.

Humans are affected by their entourage, if you put them in a clean and organised setting they tend to be cleaner and organised. We think this example is showing the math and the idea behind this question quite clearly.

A Hospital extension project in Burgas, Bulgaria.

The interior design of the Lux Hotels and Resorts project in Bodrum )which has changed the name as Le Meridien nowadays, it was a big projects with many superposed aspects.

The information management system. Most of the employees are lost in the flow of daily data. This is a challenge all the design companies should face and solve in order to be efficient.

BIM, a better information management system.

Depending on the size, some months or some years. Also the client's behavior and how clear he or she is expressing his goals matter a lot.

Brainstorming. First, we sit and think about what is the challenge and how we can respond to it in the most sustainable way.

Work like hell. Anyway, it is not going to be enough.

Probably both of them are happening. It's a interweaved situation this one.

We put great importance on technology, especially on visualization and information management. One is for the sake of the end product and the second is for the sake of being able to stay without being lost in all that information flow during the design process.

BIM, 3D models, CAD drawings, digital and hand-drawn sketches.

They are main factors affecting the psychology of people so they have a key role.

The inspiration and the challenges faced. We believe those are the key identifiers for any project.

Why we couldn't think of it? Any, of course, trying to be inspired the next time we face a similar challenge.

Someone who shares a common passion but a different background. Diversity is always adding value to projects which in fact are responses. Everybody has its own kind of response and the better is always achieved by mixing ideas.

Some clients. It is always the clients and the work you are doing which influence and mature you in this industry.

Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari.

Practice and making mistakes. Mistakes, when observed with an analyzing point of view, can be great sources of learning.

Ben van Berkel.

It is always very nice to have positive feedback about what you are doing. However, we believe in that stoic view that the motivation shouldn't be affected by any external stimulants wince you can never guarantee that they are there always.

Black, Moscow, salads, autumn, lighter, Aman Resorts.

It was when we founded our company for the first time. All of us were from different countries and we were really having a hard time effectively communicate in daily matters, however strangely enough since we shared a common passion and language towards design, we never encountered these issues in our works.

Trying to stay in the current flow without thinking about the outcome, neither future. We try to stay in the moment and enjoy the process which we believe is the only truth.

No. Actually this question is better asked to some other great people who were around me and were busy raising me.

Multiplanetary civilizations probably.

No comment.

A young architectural company founded by 3 architects of totally different cultures. United by the common desire to design and flavored by the different approaches originating from different cultures is our strong point.

It is a planning which is sustainable, carefully thought, and beautifully executed. The design is a response to a challenge and each designer is tasked with bringing a solution to many challenges we face anytime.

At Quark, we’ve worked on numerous projects within a broad range of industries. Our expertise allows us to quickly understand the requirements of your product and help you save resources. While our experience is extensive, we work particularly well with residential, hospitality, and commercial buildings.

A villa in Sardinia, because simple is beautiful. Our approach is to find elegance in simplicity. We think that simple is refined.

It was a residential, summer house. A villa.

Hand sketching on iPad. As an architect, we all know that the design is a process, where one has always a lot of comments, better ideas, and revisions to implement. Being able to quickly sketch and send them to relevant departments is making our lives easier.

At nights, that's mostly because the chaotic nature of the daily life ceases and a more calm environment starts to flourish after a certain hour. Focusing is a must to do good design, and fewer interruptions help it a lot.

We always think that if a design is needed, there is a challenge to be faced. So we first focus on the challenge. And to see how we can solve it in the best way.

Excitement, contentment, and self-realization are the ongoing feelings we often experience in the process.

Fulfillment and self-realization are the most obvious feelings. There is nothing more that can satisfy an architect from contemplating his design executed and to have positive feedback afterward.

Happy people. If the design is responding to all the challenges initially present that is a very good outcome. Plus if you have happy people using it that's the ultimate.

Sustainability, in-depth thought, aesthetics. For sure, a design should respond to its initial challenge. Otherwise, it's not a good design.

Designers are pioneers, they should dictate for the best of the society and environment the standards of sustainability.

Its sustainability and BIM. Sustainability seems to be a future saver by itself. On the other hand, BIM is a great way to handle projects above a certain size to be able to minimize errors, therefore, raising the efficiency.

None. We have never held any exhibition.

Observation and intense travels. We believe that most of the answers we seek are already implemented in nature. So we just have to observe carefully and notice them.

We do not follow a particular style. We try to focus more on the unique aspects, the needs of the client, and the environment, and therefore our designs are shaped around this criterias rather than following some strict styles.

Istanbul, yes we do feel it. Istanbul is an interesting joint where eastern meets western, culture-wise. So it's like "a bit from everything" place. Of course, that is reflecting as well on the design tradition.

Agreement based. They mostly find us from the recommendations of previous clients or simply from the internet.

Checking portfolios and focusing on details rather than the big image. Needless to say, when judging a design it's necessary to understand which challenges are faced and how effective is the designer's response.

It's a chaotic process that starts with brainstorming to see the whole image at first and then zoomin in and in while always keeping in mind core values such as efficiency, sustainability, and challenge-response.

iPad, Apple Pencil. Being able to digitally sketch with such ease has its noticeable effects on the well-being of the final product.

Wake up, answer emails, go to the office, regulate, regulate, regulate, and then regulate more.

Prepare for teamwork, design is a teamwork, organisation is the key. And the key of an organization lies within its efficiency. So being open-minded about new technologies is a very important matter.

Starting from 0 for every project is a negative point, But its also a positive point becuase every time is a different journey, so its fun. In other words, designing can hardly be described as a commercial activity since you can not mass produce it and its hard to scale. It's more like a craft.

The organization in the data flow. It is so easy to be lost among all that data that flows back and forth. So a good organizational structure is the key to efficiency. Which, at the end of the day clears up more time for the design itself.

The organization, communication, attention. And never forget that the design has lot of aspects and it can be hardly described as a one-person work. So cooperation and teamwork are musts as well.

iPad, Apple Pencil, BIM, 3D for Max modeling. Those are for creating the designs. Inspiration mostly comes from nature and the environment the design is situated in.

By co-designing and by using task management software as much as we can. We try to implement the core structures of teamwork in every aspect of our workflow.

It depends on the project. Sometimes weeks, sometimes months or even years. Here, the client's needs and how clearly they are expressed play a major role as well.

"Are you a designer or an interior designer"

LUX Resorts and Residences interior design work. It's a multi-functional project which hosts a hotel, 72 villas, restaurants, SPA Centers on a plot which is almost 85.000 sqm.

LUX resorts, MYC Partners, Dijlah Village, Deva Maria Hospital.

Hospitals. Because healthcare architecture is a very specific nice in the design industry and it has lots of specialized knowledge implemented in. The design process of a healthcare facility involves a lot of learning as well and we like it.

Using more technology to manage all the gathered data. And after being able to manage those, we will be trying to make use of this data ina more meaningful way.

We work as a team we believe in co-design. Teamwork is a must in every project.

We have a number of ongoing projects which are confidential for marketing purposes, those include a hospital, some residential buildings, and a boutique hotel.

Through company email or phone numbers. We are always available for those who would like to drop by and discuss about their projects while having a cup of coffee.