CONTINUUM - Museum of Modern Art

Project idea

The main idea behind CONTINUUM – Museum of Modern Art is to create a cultural landmark that connects the city of Kadıköy with its waterfront through architecture, landscape, movement, and water. The museum is located in Rasimpaşa, Kadıköy, Istanbul, a highly active urban area close to the ferry terminal, metro, railway, bus routes, public streets, cafes, cultural venues, and the Marmara Sea. Because Kadıköy already has a strong creative identity but lacks a major formal Museum of Modern Art, the project aims to transform this existing cultural energy into a larger civic destination.

The concept is based on the idea of a Land–Water Continuum. Rather than designing the museum as a closed object, the project imagines it as a continuous cultural landscape that begins from a designed public park, rises into fluid architectural forms, and gradually connects back to the sea. The building form is inspired by the flow of water, the rhythm of the waterfront, and the movement of people across the site.

The museum is intended to be more than a place for displaying art. It becomes a public experience where visitors can move through exhibitions, landscapes, plazas, water courts, performance spaces, learning areas, cafes, and open public spaces. The aim is to create a museum where art is experienced through emotion, movement, reflection, and social interaction.

Project description

The project is a Museum of Modern Art and cultural complex with an approximate built area of 50,000 m². It is organized as two main blocks connected by a shared public landscape, waterfront plaza, shallow water courts, amphitheatre, pedestrian paths, and promenade. The site strategy positions the museum as a transition between the dense urban fabric of Rasimpaşa and the open waterfront of Kadıköy.

Block A functions as the main museum core and performance zone. It includes temporary exhibition spaces, galleries, immersive art areas, a 360-degree digital art projection space, performance theatre, museum shop, restaurant and administration. This block is designed to create a strong cultural and emotional journey, where art is not only viewed but experienced through space, light, sound, performance, and digital installations.

Block B serves as the educational, cultural, and entertainment heart of the museum. It contains classrooms, workshops, cultural studios, painting studio, photography studio, pottery studio, arcade, cafe, stepped library, study rooms, group study areas, quiet zones, computer spaces, and administration. This block supports learning, collaboration, research, recreation, and community activity, making the museum useful throughout the day for students, artists, families, visitors, and local residents.

The landscape is an important part of the project. Public paths guide visitors from the city toward the museum and the waterfront, while the plaza and promenade create open gathering spaces. The shallow water courts strengthen the relationship between the building and the sea, while also creating a calm reflective atmosphere. At the roof edges and landscape connections, porous zones collect rainwater and direct it toward the park and service systems, allowing it to be reused for irrigation and toilet facilities.

Technical information

The museum uses a structural system that supports its curved and sculptural form while allowing large open interior spaces. The main structure combines reinforced concrete, a lightweight steel space-frame roof system, glass curtain walls, and GFRC roof cladding. This combination allows the building to achieve its fluid wave-like form while still maintaining structural stability and functional flexibility.

The roof is supported by a steel space-frame system made of chord steel members, diagonal members, and steel sphere nodes. This system is suitable for the museum because it can span large areas such as galleries, foyers, theatre spaces, and public halls without needing many internal columns. It also allows the roof to bend and rise according to the flowing architectural concept.

The external roof finish is made of Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete panels, known as GFRC. This material is used because it can form smooth curved surfaces while being lighter than conventional concrete. The roof build-up includes GFRC cladding, waterproofing membrane, thermal insulation, steel attachments, space-frame support, corrugated steel sheet layers, and internal acoustic or lighting finishes.

The facade uses full-height glass curtain walls to create transparency and visual connection between the interior spaces, the park, the plaza, and the sea. The curtain wall system includes vertical and horizontal mullions, double glazing, structural silicone, rubber shock absorbent layers, anchor bolts, steel plates, and base connections. This helps the museum feel open and connected to the waterfront while still performing as a protective building envelope.

The basement level contains parking, storage, gallery storage, restaurant storage, theatre storage, technical rooms, security areas, emergency supply rooms, and shelter spaces. Because the museum is located close to the waterfront, the basement requires strong moisture protection, including reinforced concrete shear walls, waterproofing layers, thermal insulation, drainage cells, geotextile barriers, gravel layers, and drainage systems.

Sustainability is addressed through daylight, landscape integration, water management, and material performance. The curved roof channels rainwater toward collection points and porous landscape zones. This water can be filtered and reused for park irrigation and toilet flushing. The surrounding green spaces and water courts also help improve the microclimate, reduce heat, and support the museum’s identity as a landscape-based cultural building.

Documentation

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