Following the UK's V&A Dundee, high-profile Japanese architect Kengo Kuma's firm has now completed another museum that's no less unique. First revealed back in 2017, the timber-clad Odunpazari Modern Museum (OMM) now serves as a striking new home for Turkish art.
OMM consists of a series of interlocking timber-clad boxes that offer a total floorspace of 4,500 sq m (roughly 48,500 sq ft), spread over three floors. Its distinctive design draws inspiration from nearby Ottoman-era wooden buildings in Odunpazari, Eskisehir, Turkey, as well the area's past as a busy timber market.
Visitors travel through a glazed entrance into large exhibition spaces on the ground floor, while the upper levels are more compact and host smaller artworks. Some of the rooftop terrace areas are accessible and at the building's center is a skylit atrium that allows natural light to permeate within. There's also a boutique hotel and restaurant on the site.
"At the heart of this project was a desire to create a link between people and art," says Yuki Ikeguchi, who led the design of OMM. "We wanted the building to carry the history and memory of the town, to resonate both on a human scale and with the unique streetscape of Odunpazari, which passing through is a special experience in itself. We very much look forward to seeing the public enjoy and interact with the building."
OMM was founded by businessman Erol Tabanca and has now opened to the public. Its first exhibition features over 100 works by 60 artists that mostly hail from Turkey, as well as a bamboo installation by Japanese artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV and two installations by British art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast.
Sources: Kengo Kuma and Associates, OMM