Located on the exit axis of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, this installation is designed as a spatial intervention and a reading of memory regarding Istanbul’s multi-layered urban morphology. The intervention references the typology of the Hippodrome tribune (sphendone), which lies beneath the ground layers it occupies and once formed the most monumental public space of the city’s Roman/Byzantine era.

The fundamental design parameters of the installation are constructed upon section and step dimensions derived directly from archaeological data. This approach ensures that the form is not an arbitrary design decision, but rather a linear relationship established with the existing urban context. By physically elevating the user, the design facilitates a new visual dialogue with Sultanahmet Square and transforms the city’s lost monumental scale into a physical experience.

The mass composition is defined by a central void created between the seating units. This void aligns directly with the museum’s exit gate, defining an urban orientation. Through this architectural move, the installation functions both as a tribune that creates a wall effect within the space and, conceptually, as a “gate” referencing the entrance and exit points (vomitorium) of ancient tribunes. The structural and narrative framework of the construction is based on the principles of lightness and transience.