 Global Design Forum İstanbul Opens Placemaking installations revealed across key locations, activating İstanbul as an open platform for design
The programme is shaped around four key principles: Placemaking, Storytelling, Discussion and Rethinking. A core pillar of Global Design Forum İstanbul is a series of public installations – part of the ‘Placemaking’ programme shaped by Melek Zeynep Bulut – designed under the curatorial theme“Praise of Transience”. Designers and architects have been invited to reconsider the ancient relationship between the human body and architecture through the notions of transience and permanence: the installations consider the structure not as an object resistant to time, but as an organism that works with time and accompanies the body. Highlighted installations include :LIION OF THE MOMENT
Pavilion of the Moment, Waugh Thistleton Architects | Photo: Mark Cocksedge Pavilion of the Moment by Waugh Thistleton Architects in collaboration with the National Wood Association and TORID (Turkish Forest Industry and Business Association) – is a timber structure composed of slender boards of Turkish Pinus Nigra, whose rhythmic repetition evokes the transience embedded in traditional patterns. The pavilion draws on the geometry of the adjacent Hagia Irene, abstracting the relationship between cube and sphere to create a meditative space. Lightweight and demountable, it offers a deliberate counterpoint to the surrounding monumental architecture. Rather than asserting permanence, it proposes a public space for reflection - one in which architecture is experienced as temporal, rhythmic and regenerative. Designed by Waugh Thistleton, a global leader in timber construction, the pavilion also signals a necessary shift towards more sustainable building practices. Timber, as a renewable and low-carbon material, brings proven benefits for health and wellbeing. Designers: Waugh Thistleton Architects in collaboration with the National Wood Association, TORID and People Places Ideas Dates: 13 May - 7 June 2026 Venue: Topkapı Palace Complex YAKÎN Yakîn, YAKIN Kolektif, Dr. Nil Aynalı (Marmara University, Architecture and Design Faculty), Furkan Türkyılmaz, Muhammed Arif Aksu | Photo: Mark Cocksedge Yakîn explores the idea of space through the lens of Islamic mysticism. Instead of seeing space as something purely physical, the installation invites us to think of it as something that exists within us. In this view, space is not just defined by walls or boundaries, but by human experience, with the individual as the ultimate space where all possibilities exist. At the centre of Yakîn is the idea of the human self as layered and evolving. Flowing silk curtains represent these layers, moving between two states: the busy, ever-changing energy of the city, and a quiet, deeper sense of inner unity. As visitors move through the installation, the curtains shift - light and animated at the edges, then gradually becoming still and dense toward the centre. Walking through these layers becomes a journey inward. As visitors pass through the soft, moving fabric and reach the calm core, they are invited to reflect on a more essential idea of space - one that is not physical, but personal, infinite and deeply connected to the self. Designers: YAKIN Kolektif, Dr. Nil Aynalı (Marmara University, Architecture and Design Faculty), Furkan Türkyılmaz, Muhammed Arif Aksu Architecture Department students: Ahmet Selim Avsallı, Bennu Yorulmaz, Ceren Gül, Melda Köse, Melek Nur Öztürk, Mustafa Burak Yırıkoğulları Venue: Topkapı Palace Complex Dates: 13 May - 7 June 2026 OBLIQUE LAND Oblique Land, Alper Derinboğaz & Salon Architects | Photo: Mark Cocksedge Oblique Land is a site-specific installation created for the Bosphorus-facing grounds of Kabataş High School as part of Global Design Forum İstanbul. It rethinks how we move through and experience space, using a sloped surface to create a new connection between people and the city. Rather than being a staircase or a flat platform, the structure sits somewhere in between. Its angled surface encourages visitors to move differently, shifting their balance and perspective as they engage with the view. In doing so, it recalls the historic hills overlooking the Bosphorus and invites people to reconnect with this shared urban landscape. The installation challenges the idea of the ground as something passive. Instead, it turns it into an active element that guides movement, shapes how we look, and makes us more aware of our own bodies in space. Oblique Land also functions as a flexible public space. It can be used for sitting, gathering, or simply observing the view, offering a new and unexpected vantage point over the Bosphorus. It becomes a meeting point between the individual, the city and its landscape. Designer: Alper Derinboğaz & Salon Architects Team: Rumeysa Karacuha, Ece Akbay, Selen Tüzün, Belinay Parmak Venue: Kabataş High School, Bosphorus Dates: 13 May - 7 June 2026 WALL | TRIBUNE | GATE Wall | Tribune | Gate, Ali Derya Dostoğlu & Uğur Özer | Photo: Mark Cocksedge Located along the entrance axis of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Wall / Tribune / Gate is designed as a temporary installation that reflects on İstanbul’s layered history and urban form. The installation takes inspiration from the ancient Hippodrome, once one of the city’s most important public spaces during the Roman and Byzantine periods. Specifically, it references the tribune (sphendone), much of which now lies hidden beneath today’s ground level. The design draws directly from archaeological measurements, grounding the structure in the site’s history rather than treating it as a purely contemporary object. By lifting visitors slightly above ground, the installation creates a new way of seeing the surrounding architecture, including the façade of Ibrahim Pasha Palace. In doing so, it brings back a sense of the area’s former scale and importance, turning history into a physical experience. At its centre, a gap between the seating elements forms a visual and spatial opening aligned with the museum’s exit. This feature works both as a frame for movement and as a subtle reference to the entrances and exits of ancient arenas. At the same time, the installation acts like a low wall or tribune, offering a place to sit, gather, and observe. Lightweight and temporary in structure, Wall / Tribune / Gate connects past and present, using simple architectural gestures to reveal the hidden layers of the city. Designers: Ali Derya Dostoğlu & Uğur Özer Team: Berrin Sezer, Samet Şahin, Uğur Sağlam, Statik Danışmanlık, Mithat Bora Bulut, Tayfur Somer Tasarım Atölyesi Venue: Topkapı Palace Dates: 13 May - 7 June 2026 Comments are closed.
|
Art archives
June 2026
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
