Header: Ibrahim Özbunar (645studio)
Esca is an award-winning Mediterranean restaurant in a shopping centre in Balçova, a city on the Turkish coast, that amazes guests with both the food served by head chef Osman Sezener, who holds a Michelin star, and its rich interior. With interior design by URBANJOBS, the restaurant recently won the “Restaurant & Bar Design” category at the SIT Awards 2026.
Esca’s four divisions
Once work started, URBANJOBS redrew the proportions of the space to get the plant rooms, the service areas and the dining hall to feel connected. Esca ended up being divided into four parts: the terrace, a bar with some seating, a room for private dining and an outdoor area.
How a terrace became a dining room
What is now the main dining room was an outdoor terrace, and URBANJOBS made it the principal space by half-covering it in wooden lattice. Since the terrace has to work in every season, the team was careful to ensure the structural changes could survive a harsh climate, be it a warm summer or a wet winter.
Daylight fills it throughout the day, and tropical planting was brought in to bring about the coastal feel of İzmir indoors. Layers of artificial light were then added to create a cosy evening atmosphere, which gives the room a different character after dark.
The bar is located right in the middle of the restaurant and can be used from multiple sides due to its square-shaped marble top with bronze detailing. Circulation loops around it, which is how the terrace, the private dining room and the bar seating connect to one another.
Travertine, wood and plaster
The floors are clad in travertine, a stone that forms at hot springs where the water reaches the surface and drops the minerals it had carried upwards. Turkey’s best-known beds lie in the Çürüksu basin around Denizli, inland from İzmir. The walls are covered in wood panelling and plaster, which soften the terrace and help it feel like an interior, and marble appears as an expensive pop of interest. Furniture and textiles were added in earthy tones and stone shades taken from the colours of the local flora.
Made for the room
Light In Plan worked on a lighting scheme with fixtures made specifically for Esca, with URBANJOBS having bought the materials from Turkish suppliers, which cut the distance they had to travel. Decoration was kept minimal to allow the materials to shine, with a few pieces of art and some styling added at the end.
The identity came second
URBANJOBS normally works on a restaurant’s graphics and its interiors at the same time, letting the two feed each other. On Esca, however, that order was reversed. The room was finished first, and the graphics were then worked out of it.
“With Esca, the interior came first. We began by shaping an atmosphere of light, texture and materiality, and, from this, Cansu Merdamert drew out the brand identity – its colour palette, logo and even the menu design.”
Murat Dede
Project information
Interior Design Company: URBANJOBS
Lead Designer: Murat Dede
Design Team: Nesil Tural, Gizem Korkmaz, Berfin Cantekin, Kübra Tuncer, Ufuk Seçgel, Hakan Yardim
Other Credits: Light In Plan, Cansu Merdamert
Client: Osman Sezener, Enis Habif
Photography: Ibrahim Özbunar (645studio)
Location: İzmir, Turkey
Date: August 2025
