Istanbul is one of the largest cities in the world and continues to grow. The district of Ümraniye, where the present shopping centre is situated, is a clear example of this development. In fewer than 60 years, it has grown to a thousand times its former village size and has now been absorbed by the expanding metropolis. What was missing, however, was an urban centre. In 2005, a German wholesale and retail trading group already established in Turkey invited five international architectural practices to take part in a workshop and develop a prototype for a “shopping square”. The urban planning proposals by Foreign Office Architects were unanimously placed first.