Creating place with purpose
With its unique approach to cities, Ion is on mission to rethink how we live
Cosmopolitan curators
“Without a soul, is it a place?” That is the question that inspired Ion’s mission to rethink how we live. Founded in 2022, the visionary company is deploying a simple yet radical approach to create the next generation of cities: start by embracing the geography of a site and centre each project around shared values, strong relationships and a deep connection to nature. In a field where placemaking is often a late-stage gesture, Ion begins with the elements that give a project meaning.
This approach comes to life in the group’s first project, Ion Riva, where opportunities for human connection are integral. Set alongside Black Sea coast north of Istanbul, the site will comprise almost 3,000 residents in villas and townhouses surrounded by more than 100,000 sq m of green space, with every element inspired by the belief that it is culture, education and biodiversity that builds communities.
Grounded in long-term thinking, the 84-hectare masterplan will see trees planted before construction begins, water management determine where roads should turn and passive cooling reduce energy use.
To achieve its vision, Ion is convening the industry’s brightest international and multidisciplinary minds, who are united by a shared sense of responsibility towards the future. The result is a physical manifestation of Ion’s core belief that the way we build today can profoundly shape how we live tomorrow – and a compelling prototype for a more soulful model of urban development.
Collective ambition
Central to Ion’s unique approach is Ion Conversations, an open forum where collaborators gather to share thoughts and shape the Ion Riva project. The most recent gathering surfaced bold new ideas for how cities can be designed and built.
Every voice matters
“This is a non-ego project,” says Kjetil Thorsen, founding partner of Snøhetta, one of the international practices working on Ion Riva. For Thorsen, this project is unique as the playing field is evened out and everyone from designers to thermal engineers engage in honest debates about their vision for Ion Riva and how to make it a reality.
Follow a creative flow
For as long as human settlements have existed, water has been a deciding factor in where people choose to build. There’s a lesson in bringing water management into the process from the beginning – not as another layer of infrastructure but as a tool that can shape and unlock design decisions.
Take the scenic route
Planning a neighbourhood from scratch is a unique opportunity to define from the outset how people arrive and move about within the development. Francesco Betta, project coordinator at mobility partner MIC Hub, dared Ion Conversations to look at the site’s 20km coastal road as a destination. “We need to look at all the roads, whether they are public or private, inside or outside of Ion,” he says.
“The beauty of Ion is that the richness of the narrative speaks for itself. We believe the story and buildings just happen to be part of that”
JOHN RUSHWORTH, partner, Pentagram
Take comfort from many sources
Planning is shaped around an assumed level of comfort. How often do we stop to question what comfort really means? Passive cooling can have a tremendous impact in lowering temperatures and ventilating spaces, but it can only be achieved if thermal engineers and architects work side by side. And don’t be shy of looking to the past for lessons. Homes were ventilated long before the modern dominance of air conditioning.
Build connection through wellness
Creating a site that puts people’s health at its core requires more than a state-of-the-art gym or wellness facility. Consideration must be given to the softer aspects of daily life, recognising the impact that nature and social interactions have on our wellbeing. While the physical environment creates the conditions for community, it’s in the activation of those spaces that this communal spirit comes to life.
Don’t buy a house, invest in a neighbour
“When we say our approach is nature-based, we mean it for real – starting with planting 400 trees in Riva in September”
MEHMET KALYONCU, founder, ION
Building with humanity
When a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated the Hatay region in 2023, the architecture and planning community was quick to rally around the relief efforts and use their skills to help rebuild the area. At the time, Mehmet Kalyoncu was leading the Türkiye Design Council and, together with his friend and collaborator Cem Yılmaz, he witnessed a level of international collaboration rarely seen before.
It was this moment that ignited the spark to create Ion and cement its unique approach: gather the best practitioners across disciplines around one table, study the land and its resources and, together, deliver a neighbourhood that leaves the area better than it was previously. “It might not be the easy way to do things, but it’s the right way,” says Kalyoncu. “Now it’s our partners’ duty to take us from the abstract to the delivery.” For Yilmaz, the principles behind Ion Riva share similarities with the rebuilding of Hatay. “Just because it’s commercial and not humanitarian, it doesn’t mean we can’t have a humane approach,” he says.
One table, many voices
It’s not often that the world’s most influential design practices are found in the same room. It’s even less common that they are working together on the same side of the table. “Ion is the big unifier of architecture practices,” says Kjetil Thorsen, co-founder of Snøhetta and a key voice in Ion Riva’s masterplan. “In all my years I have never collaborated at this level. Architects are more alike than they are different and being part of this collective means being agile, remaining open to what we don’t yet see today and constantly adapting.”
Alongside Snøhetta, Ion brings together partners from global studios such as Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and MVRDV, alongside collaborators from renowned Turkish studios like DB Architects and Bilgin Architects. Each is tasked with the delivery of one of the four key cultural hubs, alongside their vision for the development’s villas. “We have an understanding between us, we know how to share in the project, ” says Caner Bilgin, co-founder of Istanbul’s Bilgin Architects.
For Thorsen, there are three elements that define the Ion Riva project. First is the process, whereby the collective’s roundtables and discussions actively contribute to the results. Second is the capacity to design great buildings. And finally, it is the groundbreaking, nature-first approach. “There is no way other big developers around the world would dare to make this their priority,” he says. “I find it incredible to have the opportunity to develop water and biological issues before major construction begins. It’s refreshing, differentiating and sends a very clear message to the world that Ion is taking the lead.”
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