Hagia Sophia Museum Store

Ayasofya, Istanbul

Although we have designed and implemented more than 20 points so far within the project of the Ministry of Culture to establish a joint retail network for all museums, the Ayasofya leg was handled differently from all other stores.

We decided to cover the minimum volume in the space by touching the building from the minimum point and placing the minimum material inside. Something had to happen that it had to fall apart and maybe hang in the air. We feel that we are very close to this goal by developing a self-supporting, modular shelf carrier system that just sits on the ground. All exhibition units were separated up to their constructive elements. The shelves began to float in the air. If the color of Byzantium was purple, it was moved to the space with the curtain, the only element that covers the entire back facade of the section reserved for us. Thus, an elegant solution has been produced for the problem of placing a brand new function in a historical place as a fundamental question for us.