From wood market to cultural area. Opening of Kengo Kuma's Odunpazarı Modern Museum
11/09/2019.
[Odunpazarı - Eskişehir] Turkey
metalocus, ÁNGEL TORNE
metalocus, ÁNGEL TORNE
The Odunpazari Modern Museum (OMM), designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, opened its doors in Eskisehir, a university town in the northwest of Turkey. OMM was founded by Erol Tabanca, architect, chairperson of Turkish Polimeks company and modern and contemporary art collector, spanning the 1950s to the present day.
Project description by Kengo Kuma Architects
Odunpazari Modern Art Museum is to exhibit the owner’s collection of Turkish modern art. The Museum is planned in the city of Eskisehir where the owner, Mr. Erol TABANCA was born and raised. The project is to realize the owner’s ambition to promote Turkish art and to make cultural contribution to the city of Eskisehir. Eskisehir is known as university town where young population is large and the city has lively and active atmosphere.
The site is in the area called Odunpazari. It is situated at the threshold of newly developed urban area and small scale town scape of traditional Ottoman wooden houses. These wooden house, with cantilevered volume at upper level, were built in lines along the meandering small streets that makes the street scape and walk though experience quite unique and unexpected.
We aim to reflect this street scape quality into the new architectural design of the museum that stands in the urban scale. Our design strategy is to make the volume in aggregation; stacking small boxes to create the urban scale architecture. Stacked boxes at the street level is read in the scale of surrounding houses and it grows taller towards the center of the museum to stands in the urban scape that announces itself as new cultural landmark of the area.
The stacked and interlocked boxes are designed in various sizes to create diverse scales of exhibition space inside. Boxes at the ground level offers opportunities for large scale art works and installation. The boxes get smaller at upper levels to exhibit smaller, intimate scale art works. The central atrium, composed with timber blocks, connects each level to let the natural light through skylight above.
The name of this area “Odunpazari” means “wood market” in Turkish. The exterior envelop of the museum is composed with timber in full extent signifying the history and memory of the place that used to function as market in trading wood.
Kengo Kuma was born in Yokohama (Kanagawa, Japan) in 1954. He studied architecture at the University of Tokyo, finishing his degree in 1979. In 1987, he opened the "Spatial Design Studio". In 1990 he founded "Kengo Kuma & Associates" and extend the study to Europe (Paris, France) in 2008. Since 1985 and until 2009, has taught as visiting professor and holder at the universities of Columbia, Keio, Illinois and Tokyo.
Main Awards:
· 2011 The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize for "Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum."
· 2010 Mainichi Art Award for “Nezu Museum.”
· 2009 "Decoration Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" (France).
· 2008 Energy Performance + Architecture Award (France). Bois Magazine International Wood Architecture Award (France).
· 2002 Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland).
· 2001 Togo Murano Award for “Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum.”
· 1997 Architectural Institute of Japan Award for “Noh Stage in the Forest”. First Place, AIA DuPONT Benedictus Award for “Water/Glass” (USA).