Borusan Music and Art House

The project was carried out within GAD Architecture and under the leadership of Gökhan AVCIOGLU. (https://www.gadarchitecture.com/en/borusan-music-and-art-house)
Over the last 50 years, the diagrid system of crisscrossing metal beams has been an important structural innovation in architecture. In the design of the Borusan Music House, a diagrid of steel beams became the basis for an architectural strategy that facilitated the realization of a modern music and exhibition space within the historical fabric of Istanbul's 19th-century Beyoğlu district. The architecture of the building preserves the façade of the historic neoclassical building, facilitating its new functions through a completely new structure. The historical connection between the building and its context aims to preserve continuity with the past and provide new functions through this internal structure, giving fresh life to the building and the district.

GAD's architectural strategy is realized through a critical approach to structure and program. Diagrid's steel beams allow the building's load to be carried around the perimeter of the building, enabling open and flexible floor plans to facilitate exhibitions and music. More importantly, although this structure is important in realizing the building's new functions, it is visible only at street level and disappears behind the neoclassical façade on the upper floors, in a sense of the limited role that modern architecture can provide in this historical environment dominated by Istanbul's 19th-century past. However, the architects realized that impulses towards strict modernism had to be suppressed, although there were more subtle efforts to fill the building with contemporary design. An elaborate lighting program built into the diagrid showcases this structure within the building at night, while the roof of the stepped terrace takes advantage of views towards the Bosphorus and the roofs of neighboring buildings.