Aytac Architects, an award-winning architecture and research practice based in Istanbul, Turkey, is proud to proceed with its development of DE Bodrum Museum, a custom design for contemporary Turkish artist, Devrim Erbil. Located in the city of Bodrum, and set against the blue waters of the Aegean Sea, the design was recognized as a WA Award Cycle 40 winner in 2021 as part of the World Architecture Community Awards.

A Mediterranean oasis

Defined by a beautiful garden filled with tangerine trees, the site of the DE Bodrum Museum is located just minutes away from Erbil’s existing studio in the town of Ortakent. The primary objective of the project is to provide a physical site capable of embracing the vast cerebral horizons of the artist’s diverse works, ranging from oil paintings to carpets, mosaics, stained glass, and more.

“In pondering a variety of typological museum models, we chose to design a project that would be defined by the sum of its many parts, in contrast to a single, monolithic structure,” explains Alper Aytac, Founder and Lead Architect of the firm bearing his name. “We chose to create a series of individual galleries that will be embraced as pieces of the existing city fabric, blending seamlessly into the surrounding landscape of Bodrum’s whitewashed stucco homes.”

A hybrid experience

Each of the galleries stands on separate supports, creating ample space for visitors to roam the grounds of the museum and the cool, shady area of its stunning garden. Amenities will include a temporary exhibition space, a workshop, a café, and a bookshop, essentially becoming a new meeting place in the City of Bodrum. The floating permanent galleries are arranged in a loop, beginning and ending in a museum spiral that connects to the garden level.

“That new condition creates a hybrid space that is neither just a building nor a garden, with a blue mosaic ceiling, suspended above the hybrid space, rhythmically vibrates above the garden and becomes the main façade,” explains Alper Aytac. “And like a branching tree, the lifted structure creates a roof that frames the entire public square, with the fragmented structure organized in a grid that aligns with the tangerine trees and the artist’s studio.”