Client:         The Vehbi Koç Foundation
Location:    Istanbul, Turkey
Timescale:   2022

The Sadberk Hanim Museum, Turkey’s first private museum, holds an outstanding collection of over 20,000 objects of Turkish and Islamic artwork and archaeological items representing the history of Turkey from Neolithic times.

Cultural Innovations were appointed to support the operational and financial planning for the museum as it transitions to its new home in a listed building within a historical shipyard in the new Tersane cultural and commercial district on the Golden Horn. The new building will conserve and display the museum’s growing permanent collection and reflect its vision to provide a world-class cultural experience for its visitors.

Working with lead architects Grimshaw, Cultural Innovations created a robust financial model which included visitor projections, ticketing models, and operational budget forecasts, as well as staffing, organisational and revenue generating recommendations. The 36,200sqm new building is over ten times bigger than the existing museum and will have a significantly higher estimated number of visitors, so strategic workshops and ongoing consultation with The Koç Foundation were also essential to inform our recommendations in the context of the new site.