The customer was the Turkish charity Vehbi Koç Foundation, which chose the work of British architects from two dozen options.
The need for a museum was long overdue: one of the largest and most financially stable charitable foundations in the world needed an exposition site to display works of classical and modern art, archaeological finds and other cultural values accumulated over the years of its existence. Moreover, we are talking not only about paintings and sculptures, but also about samples of media design, installations, video installations, and so on.
The authors of the project emphasize that in the process of their work they have experienced a serious influence of traditional Turkish culture. In particular, the ceramic facing of the future museum is a reference to the decor of religious, fortress and residential buildings of the Ottoman Empire times.
The museum is designed as a rectangular volume with cutouts in the upper part. The architectural appearance is complicated by the plastic heterogeneity of the facades: their flat sections alternate with protruding and sinking elements. The roof of the building is designed as a public space with glazed skylights, multi-level terraces and panoramic viewpoints. To improve the insolation of the galleries, several stories deep light wells are provided, which also provide visual communication and permeability of the interior.
The building designed by Nicholas Grimsho and his colleagues will be built no later than 2016 in Istanbul's Beyoglu district - one of the most dynamically developing in Europe.