Wangan Studio, with its “Ara Guler Museum + Leica Showroom + Monochrome Brasserie” project, was honored with the ‘Red Dot: Best of the Best Interior Design’ award, the highest award of the “Red Dot Design Awards,” one of the most prestigious design awards in the world, It became the first design office in Turkey to receive the ‘Red Dot: Best of the Best’ award with an interior design project.
Wangan Studio is an Istanbul design studio specializing in multiple disciplines, such as architecture, interiors, product design, brand strategy, and experience design.
Ara Guler Museum, Leica Showroom, and Monochrome Brasserie project is located in Galataport, the destination project situated on the 1.2-kilometer coastline between Istanbul Karaköy ferry port and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University’s Fındıklı Campus. The AGLM project, whose experience and interior design were made by Wangan, is one of the most critical projects of Galataport, which is planned to be the city’s new culture and art center.
Seeking an answer to the challenging design need of a museum, cafe, and camera store working together on a 435 square meter area, Wangan’s main design decision in the project was to build his experience story on the common points of the brands rather than dealing with these different functions separately.
The central mass, which is covered with a three-dimensional wooden pattern in the middle of the space and contains the kitchen area of the Monochrome, was designed with inspiration from the traditional form of the aperture, which is the essential element of photography, which is the common point of the three brands, and the camera. This mass, on the surface of which there are display units of Leica and the exhibition surfaces of the Ara Guler Museum, becomes one of the most dominant elements of the project, drawing attention from the outside as well as inside the space with the light plays created on it thanks to its three-dimensional structure.
The sculptural mass at the core of the room smoothly embraces Monochrome Brasserie’s kitchen area while effortlessly transitioning to the adjacent Ara Guler Museum exhibition area and Leica sales cabinets. This intelligent solution promotes a unified and engaging visitor experience by introducing a space-dividing element that elegantly connects the varied functional sections. Wangan Studio’s great attention to detail can be seen in the careful selection of distinct materials and the creation of specialized lighting settings for each sub-area. These deliberate design decisions gently but successfully highlight each brand’s distinctiveness and independence, producing a coherent yet distinct mood across the room. Furthermore, the distinctive ceiling and floor designs implemented in each sub-area play a pivotal role in enhancing the overall visual coherence of the space, ensuring a sense of clarity and coherence throughout.
By combining three diverse areas into one, the design layout attempts to decrease the need for guests to travel between three different places while also reducing the consumption of materials. AGLM aims to assist the local economy and reduce the environmental impact of transport emissions created by sourcing materials from distant areas, which results in a higher ‘carbon footprint’ during construction by prioritizing locally sourced resources.
Project Info
Design: Wangan
Client: Dogus Hospitality & Retail
Year: 2022
Location: Galataport – Istanbul, Turkey
Area: 435 sqm
Photography: Emre Dorter
Lighting Design: Planlux
Acoustic Consultant: Karakutu Electroacoustics
