The first dedicated museum of modern and contemporary art in Turkish history is finally opening its doors this week following the completion of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW)-designed Istanbul Modern in the country’s most populous city.

Clad in an “iridescent” envelope of aluminum paneling that aims to resemble the scales of a fish, the 110,000-square-foot facility overlooks Istanbul’s Karaköy waterfront at the confluence of the Bosphorus Strait and Golden Horn waterways. In its site placement and silhouette, the structure evokes the passage of a ship through the harbor. The building’s ground floor is made transparent by a glass curtain wall that showcases two site-specific works by Richard Wentworth and Olafur Eliasson while offering visitors a panoramic view of the ongoing $1.8 billion Galataport development beyond.

RPBW says this material transparency “reflects the ethos of the museum: A multifaceted experience offering visitors audience-oriented exhibitions and programs inspired by the artistic diversity of the present day.” 

Its three volumes are stacked to organize the program into a vertical arrangement of public areas. A library, education spaces, café, shop, offices, pop-up gallery, and dedicated photography area all grace the first floor. The second floor houses the museum’s 19-year-old permanent collection, a 156-seat auditorium, and primary temporary exhibitions gallery. Finally, the museum's third-floor terrace features a reflecting pool framed by the cantilevered roofline.

This is the studio's first project in Turkey. The new museum will include a survey of Piano's architecture called Genius Loci that “examines in detail the design process and structural components of Istanbul Modern’s new building.” Next to it in the library, Constructing Architecture showcases photographer Cemal Emden's recent documentation, which “unravels the museum building's construction phases.” 

Istanbul Modern follows the Academy Museum and GES-2 House of Culture as the latest cultural project for the Italian-based studio. They also recently announced a trio of new hospital designs for the Greek Stavros Niarchos Foundation and are working to complete the new Beirut Historical Museum, which was commissioned in 2015.