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The refurbishment of Hotel Les Ottomans transformed the ruins of a former mansion into a luxurious hotel. Arup provided structural, mechanical and electrical engineering services for this project.
The hotel development includes 10 suites, restaurants, swimming pools, spa and a fitness centre. The intricate ceilings, crown mouldings, and chandeliers make every suite unique; turning this hotel in one of the few luxurious boutique hotels in the world certified as a ‘Feng Shui’ hotel.
The former building
Also known as Muhsinzade Mansion, this mansion was built in the 18th century for Muhsinzade Mehmet Pasha´s family along the Bosphorus. The original owners lived in the building until mid-1920s.
After that period the structure was deserted and used for coal and sand storage. In 1935, after a fire, the mansion was finally left in ruins.
The restoration
In 2002, the building was restored true to its former shape from available pictures, with the addition of some basement stories.
Some of the most challenging aspects that the structural design had to beat included the uplift problem due to ground water, as the bottom of the raft foundation was at 11m below sea level and the hotel is a low rise building.
Arup also had to fix the abundance of openings in slabs and irregularities in the external ‘skin’, in an effort to keep it true to original shape.
The renovation finished in 2006 and the building became the Les Ottomans boutique hotel.
