Notes from the Studio · Neighbourhood Guide

How is an apartment renovated in Kadıköy?

Process, Timescale, the Right Questions

Because our studio is in Kadıköy, we know most of the renovation enquiries in the area at first hand: mostly flats built between the 1990s and the 2000s, whose room divisions no longer suit the way people live and whose services have aged. The steps below are the general route we follow when starting on a flat of that kind.

We have written this as a neighbourhood guide: what makes renovation in Kadıköy easier and harder, the order of the process, what actually extends the programme, and the questions to ask at the first meeting.

Kadıköy’s building stock: two different renovations

Kadıköy is not one uniform district, and the logic of a renovation changes noticeably with the age of the building.

• In older apartment blocks the real issue is the infrastructure: aged water and waste pipework, an electrical installation whose capacity does not meet today's load, uninsulated window frames and damp in external walls. In these flats a significant part of the budget goes on work you cannot see after handover — and that is exactly where it should go.
• In more recent blocks the infrastructure is usually sound; here what matters is the estate management's rules and the fact that the layout no longer suits the way people live today. The work generally proceeds through the partition arrangement, storage and finishes.

Which group a flat belongs to becomes clear in the first half hour of the site survey, and it largely determines the rest of the process.

The process, step by step

What you can change, and what you cannot

Not everything is open in a flat. What turns a renovation daydream into a realistic plan is knowing that boundary from the outset:

• Load-bearing walls, columns and shear walls — untouchable. These are the elements carrying the building's seismic safety; establishing the structure from the drawings or by on-site assessment is necessary so that they are not mistaken for a partition.
• Shared service risers — the main water, waste and gas lines are part of the building's common property; their positions are fixed, and they determine how far the wet areas can be moved.
• The façade and external windows — in most buildings these are not free to change because of the consistency of the elevation; if they are to be replaced, the management's rules and, where relevant, the municipality's apply.
• Partition walls, ceilings, floors and the interior of wet areas — this is your real room for manoeuvre, and used well it transforms how liveable a flat is.

What to establish before demolition

• The structure — which wall can come out is determined by assessment, not by guesswork.
• The condition and route of the services — the material of the existing lines and where they run; how much depth there is in the floor and the walls.
• The consumer unit and supply capacity — today's kitchen appliances and air conditioning place a demand an older installation never allowed for.
• The heating system — central or individual; and if radiator positions are changing, whether the pipework allows it.
• Damp and insulation — if there is moisture in an external wall or next to a wet area, finishes applied without finding the source will come back within a few years.

Building rules set the programme

In interior projects, what usually surprises the programme is not the building work but the building's own rules. The ones we meet most often in Kadıköy: the hours within which noisy work is permitted, a ban on working at weekends, whether the lift may be used to move materials and, if so, on condition that it is protected, rubble removal confined to particular days, and a requirement to clean the common areas daily.

These rules differ from building to building, which is why we schedule the conversation with the management immediately after the survey. A constraint learned early is written into the programme; one learned late breaks it.

Is a permit required, or not?

The general framework is this: interior alterations that do not touch the load-bearing structure or the external appearance of the building are usually not subject to permit; changes to structural elements, to the façade or window frames, or works that alter the character of the unit are assessed separately. But this is a decision for the authority, not a matter of interpretation — the right course is to confirm with the relevant municipality once the scope is clear. Look at the scope of your own project, not at the categorical statements circulating online.

What extends the programme

• Lead times on bespoke items — kitchens and wardrobes do not go into production until dimensions are fixed; manufacture and installation then take a programme of their own.
• Choosing natural stone — viewing and selecting the slab, cutting it and transporting it form a separate process. We set out which stone suits where in our natural stone piece.
• Surprises after demolition — failed pipework, damp and unexpected structural elements are common in older buildings.
• Requests added during the process — every addition takes its place in the programme; we prefer to make that visible from the start.
• Lighting decided too late — a request for a fitting after the electrical first fix means opening walls. We explain why the layered scheme has to be settled early in our lighting piece.

Where the budget actually goes

We do not give figures — because any number stated without knowing the scope is a guess. But we can say where the weight of the budget falls: wet areas (the kitchen and bathrooms) carry the densest concentration of services and joinery per square metre; invisible infrastructure is a real item in older buildings; and the proportion of bespoke work and the material class together allow the same layout to be built across a wide budget range.

There is also the contingency: we recommend keeping a portion of the total in reserve for the things that cannot be seen until demolition opens them up. How the whole process runs is set out in our Process & Budget Guide, and how we work on homes on our residential interior design page. Among the work we have completed in Kadıköy you can also look at Four Winds Feneryolu and HD Law Office.

The right questions

Three questions to ask an interior architect at the first meeting: “are we touching a load-bearing wall?”, “which permissions will we need from the building management?”, and “can we go on living in the flat during the works, or do we need to move out?” These three affect both the budget and the programme more than anything else.

We would add a fourth: “will you be carrying out the construction yourselves?” On projects where design and construction sit in different hands, it becomes unclear who answers for a problem when one appears on site.

Frequently Asked Questions

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