Lying down on the grass, watching the people around you, touching a cat, the cat scratching you and causing you to scream in the middle of the garden, listening to the echo you caused, then lying again, smelling the grass, listening to the birds, letting the sun warm up your face, then suddenly escaping from the unexpected rain are some ways to experience a peaceful space in the middle of Taşkışla: The courtyard.

This place is a sanctuary. The sanctuaries are generally closed places in which no one can see you. This is not the case. In here, besides seeing everyone, you can listen to people talking, laughing, smell their perfumes, watch them smoking, or ask them for a lighter... In here, standing alone, you have some privacy on your own, but somehow you are never lonely. In this space there is a transposition of different lives and ideas, you can find common aspects with people. You are truly able to experience the life going on in Taşkışla: you can hear some gossips, you can hear about peoples’ projects or life, you can hear some music… The building itself can be a heaven and a hell at the same time. You may suffer pain or feel very happy in the building due to various reasons, a lover, a project, etc. However the garden never lets this duality. The garden is always peaceful.

The reason for it being so peaceful is its nature itself: This central piece of serenity has a planar form, unlike the long horizontal axes in the building itself. The enthusiastic pink of the façade, the blue of the sky, the green of the grass, the colorful flowers and the many other colorful clothes of the people are in a harmony. This harmony make you feel that you belong to this little secret courtyard. Besides the green areas, the middle gray area is the mixture of all colors and feelings in this sanctuary. It is a background for all the colors, enabling all the colors to show themselves without a chaos. In the middle, there is a pool reflecting all the objects but not the color, as if it is giving a reference to the history. Around the pool, there are some column bases to remind us the history, and a lion protecting the historical values of the building. Therefore nobody is allowed to do anything disrespectful to the historical values of the building. We are able to imagine how the building was used in older times, respect the old users and imagine how their lives were in this building was. If the history is honored well, sometimes the lion pours water to the pool sending its greetings to us.

This vertical space enables to take a deep breath and feel how much I belong to this building. While standing there, rubbing a cat, relaxing, I experience this little space as a piece of heaven , with all its colors, people, and history. Then usually I grab a cup of tea to cherish my happiness.