Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, a new building for Istanbul Modern, Türkiye’s first museum of modern and contemporary art, will open to the public on May 4th, 2023. The official opening ceremony of the museum is set to take place at a later date. The museum, measuring over 10,500 square meters, is located on the Karaköy waterfront, a historic district at the intersection of the Bosphorus and Golden Horn. The new building offers spaces for temporary exhibitions, interdisciplinary educational programs, film screenings, and an extensive art collection.
According to the architecture office, the design of the building takes cues from the glittering waters of the Bosphorus as it aims to echo the long history of the site, previously used as a harbor for ships traveling between Europe and Asia. The façade is clad in a sequence of 3D-formed aluminum panels, creating a shimmering effect in the sunlight, and changing the image of the building throughout the day.
The museum’s functional distribution is designed to respond to its context. The transparent ground floor houses the museum library, education, and event spaces, a café, and a museum shop. Richard Wentworth’s “False Ceiling” (2005), one of the iconic permanent installations from the former building, welcomes back visitors. The central stairway, leading visitors to the museum collections, features a three-part site-specific installation by Olafur Eliasson commissioned specifically for this museum building.
Related Article
The 23 Most Anticipated Projects of 2023Photography and pop-up galleries and the restaurant featuring panoramic views of the Bosphorus represent the main attractions on the building’s first floor, while the second floor houses the museum’s permanent collection gallery. The museum also features a 156-seat auditorium designed for film screening and interdisciplinary events, along with a viewing terrace providing views of the city.
Istanbul Moderns is set to open with five new exhibitions, each further developed through publications and educational resources. The program highlights the collection by introducing works by some of Türkiye’s modern and contemporary artists, such as Fahrelnissa Zeid, Sarkis, Ayşe Erkmen, Gülsün Karamustafa, Nil Yalter, and İnci Eviner, along with internationally renowned names. At the entrance of the museum’s library, the “Genius Loci” exhibition offers a survey of Renzo Piano’s architectural language and examines in detail the design process and structural components of Istanbul Modern.
Recently, Renzo Piano Building Workshop has unveiled plans to redevelop Genoa’s waterfront by introducing new urban and port functions to its underutilized areas. Another project by RPBW, developed in collaboration with Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Health Initiative, aims to improve Greece’s public healthcare system through the design of three new hospitals in Thessaloniki, Komotini, and Sparta, Greece.
