Art Bunker: transforming a shelter
How we turned a 1960s shelter nine metres underground into an art gallery while preserving 90 percent of its original walls.
The shelter in Beyoğlu had been flooded and closed for thirty years. When the art foundation wanted to use it as a gallery, our first question was: what should we keep?
Drying it out
The first four months went on waterproofing and drainage alone. A new waterproof wall was cast behind the outer walls; the original inner surfaces were not touched.
Bringing daylight down
The only thing the shelter lacked was light. We opened a sunken court nine metres deep at the entrance; a monumental concrete stair brings visitors down together with the daylight.
Leaving it rough
We left 90 percent of the original walls as they were, with their formwork marks and old paint stains. New concrete was cast in a lighter mix so it can be told apart from the old.
The hardest decision was to do nothing.
The gallery now hosts four exhibitions a year; its cool, stable interior climate brings climate-control costs close to zero.
