Odunpazarı Modern Museum
Timber-clad contemporary art museum by Kengo Kuma in Eskişehir's historic Odunpazarı quarter.
Odunpazarı Modern Museum opened in September 2019 in the historic Odunpazarı district of Eskişehir, a quarter of timber-framed Ottoman houses whose name means wood market. It was founded by the businessman and architect Erol Tabanca to show his collection of modern and contemporary art, drawn largely from Turkish painters, sculptors and photographers of the past century. The building was designed by the Japanese practice Kengo Kuma and Associates and was the office's first completed project in Turkey.
The design stacks interlocking timber boxes of varying size, echoing the piles of logs once traded in the quarter and the scale of the wooden houses around it. Laminated timber beams clad the exterior, while a top-lit atrium cuts through the centre of the building and links galleries of different heights. Rotating displays from the collection are shown alongside temporary exhibitions and commissioned installations. The museum also runs talks, workshops and children's programmes, with a shop and café at street level.
Highlights
- Designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates and opened in 2019
- Stacked timber boxes recalling the quarter's wood-market history
- Rotating displays from the Erol Tabanca collection of Turkish art
- Top-lit central atrium linking galleries of varying height
