The project refers to a neighborhood, a mahalle,  in the north of the historical peninsula of Istanbul, facing the golden horn: a sensible and dense historic area, dotted with all kind of monuments and remnants of different periods, defined physically by its topography. It covers the ridge of the 5th  hill of Istanbul with the Selim Camii at the top and the Byzantine city walls with the ‘enclave’ of the orthodox Patriarchate lying at the coast.

A dense accumulation of rundown wooden houses, mixed with huge apartment buildings on concrete retaining walls, on a  labyrinthine street pattern,  is dominating the area today. At the shore, a huge highway is separating the urban fabric from the sea. The old city wall, partly demolished but visible in its remnants, enclosed in houses and workshops, some leftover byzantine stone residences extramuros and the rear sides of apartment buildings founded on the walls, are forming a new incidental urban waterfront.