‘Currency of Care’ imagines a decentralized system in which circular construction becomes a local currency. Thinking of the building as an ever-changing multi-layered entity, the project aims to manifest care and longevity at various scales. A digital market will enable the decentralized ownership of building components that have been designed for disassembly. Extending the lifespan of the architectural entity from component to operation level, transnational architecture is interrogated under the critical understanding of the colonial and oppressive nature of the currency system. By creating a special economic zone in the proposal site, the design produces economic activity that is implemented locally and operated globally. Sustainable construction and microfinance offer the solution of affordable ownership in a future scenario operating with crypto-currencies.

The project is sited in the old financial district of Ankara, on the banking street. Ulus Square is still one of the most popular locations in the city, yet the neighbourhood has undergone severe social and economic degradation in the past 40 years.

Modularity is used in both the structure and the skin. Steel connections that are designed for disassembly are the major technical challenge. Regarding the connection as a designed object rather than just an intermediary condition, the project embraces exposed structural steel as a strategic and stylistic decision.

DFD Systems allow for flexibility, alteration and/or replacement of components. In the process of designing and maintaining a resilient system that can also adapt to change with agility, feedback loops are vital. Establishing a system that connects the architect and the users ensures the healthy functioning feedback loops, resulting with the social and economic sustainability of the project.