Turkish studio EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture have created a striking new home for some of Turkey's most important art works: a renovated warehouse which has been stripped of its floors and walls.

The studio’s design team have stripped an abandoned dockland building so that only the concrete structure remains. This stark 24,000 sq m (258,000sq ft) structural grid will support large overhanging red containers, within which 15,000 art works dating as far back as the Ottoman period will be displayed.

Work on the Istanbul Antrepo 5 Painting and Sculpture Museum, located in Karaköy Port, began in 2011, and CLAD has been told work is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

Visitors will enter the museum through a spacious hall enhanced with workshops, public facilities and access to the network of ramps and bridges that connect the containers above.

A transparent glazed facade has been installed on three sides so that visitors circulating the museum’s pathways can look out towards Istanbul and the sea. A stainless steel mesh on the back wall of the museum acts as an interface between the new museum and the city.

In a statement, the architects said: “This conversion is a step forward for modern Turkish architecture. While it references the carcass framework that is the basic constructive element of Turkish architecture, this structural grid is the most prominent element of a warehouse building in urban memory.”

The studio is garnering a reputation for its innovative designs. This year is also expected to see the completion of one of CLAD’s 2016 projects to watch out for, the Antakya Hilton Museum Hotel. When finished, hotel guests will sleep in prefabricated boxes suspended above archaeological ruins dating back more than 2,000 years.

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