The Istanbul Modern is the first museum of modern and contemporary art in the Turkish metropolis. Originally founded in 2004 in a former government customs warehouse, the museum finds its new guise in a project created by Renzo Piano, architect and founder of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop studio, in collaboration with Arup.
Today the museum is located on the Karakoy waterfront, in one of the city’s most picturesque historical districts, at the point where the Bosporus and the Golden Horn meet. The building’s structure is characterised by lightness and elegance, in a harmonious dialogue with the surrounding area in which the Bosphorus and Ottoman-era buildings predominate. The landscape not only frames the architecture of the museum suspended between land and sea, but somehow also seems to permeate the interior of the structure designed on five levels. Huge windows allow visitors to immerse themselves in a space seemingly without boundaries, where the view of those walking through the museum’s galleries is lost beyond the architectural barriers.
Right from the start, the Istanbul Modern has succeeded in positioning itself as a reference point for the city and the international art world, a place for meetings, for comparisons guided by curiosity to open up to the world of beauty and art. Precisely in order to be a multifunctional and welcoming place, the spaces are designed to accommodate a wide variety of activities, such as temporary art and photography exhibitions, film screenings, conferences, a library, a restaurant and educational programmes for adults and children. Because of their great ability to adapt and respond to different contexts and functions, Pedrali products were chosen to furnish the spaces of the Istanbul Modern.
Snow Junior, designed by Odo Fioravanti, finds its natural place in a room that hosts educational workshops for children: its playful shape, adaptability to both indoor and outdoor environments and stackability characterise this version of Snow, designed for the world of children, in order to support the museum’s aspiration to make art accessible to the public of all ages. Chosen for the context in the shade of yellow, which par excellence symbolises positivity, energy and optimism, Snow Junior is made of glass-fibre reinforced polypropylene and injection moulded using gas air moulding technology, in order to make it solid and light at the same time.
In addition to its 10,500 square metres of indoor space, the museum also offers its visitors and users a unique 650 square metre panoramic terrace, which, like a floating platform, appears to be suspended over a crystal-clear sheet of water on which, at certain times of the day, the reflection of the city’s monuments can be seen. To further embellish this breathtaking space, a number of Pedrali products have been arranged, allowing visitors to enjoy the panorama in the comfort of Nolita, a family of outdoor seating that evokes the origins of a historical journey begun by Mario Pedrali in 1963 with his first metal garden chairs, and Tribeca, a modern reinterpretation of the classic 1960s terrace chairs made of steel with weave, both designed by CMP design. Their combination recalls the hues of the sea and sky, the protagonists of the surrounding frame, which, when they meet, recreate gradual shades from blue to white – colours respectively selected for Nolita and Tribeca. Completing the area are the Fluxo coffee tables, by Luca Casini, characterised by primary geometries originating from the section of the stem to generate an essential and minimalist yet recognisable form.
Within the design of the Istanbul Modern, Pedrali has succeeded in giving maximum expression to its essence, a synthesis of Beauty, Tradition and Innovation.
Photo Cemal Emden
