Istanbul walking tours, Turkish building guides, City architectural walks Turkey, Architects visits
Istanbul Architecture Tours
Turkish Architecture Guides – exclusive building walks in Turkey tailor made for visiting groups.
post updated 20 October 2024
Contact e-architect for your walking guide in Turkey: isabelle@e-architect.com
Istanbul Architecture Tour: Exclusive Guided Walks
Our Istanbul guided tours are all tailored to suit each booking, we do not allow for bookings to be joined. Our guided tours in western Turkey are exclusive to each client.
Besiktas Fish Market Istanbul building:
photograph : Ozlem Avcioglu, Ozan Ertug, Alp Eren
Istanbul Architecture Walking Tours
Istanbul Architecture – Introduction
Istanbul is located in the northwest of the country, located between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. It is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country’s economic, cultural, and historical heart. It sits between Europe and Asia, a cultural and political nexus.
Naturallythe most celebrated building in the city is Hagia Sophia, dating from 537 AD. But the city also has good contemporary architecture – with significant recent buildings being Kanyon, LOFT Gardens and the santralistanbul Art Museum. These buildings are all possible to visit on our Istanbul Architectural Tours.
Famous architects with buildings in this majorTurkish city include EAA-Emre Arolat Architects and Tabanlioglu Architects. Other key architects with work in the city include RTA-Office / Dome Partners, REX Architecture, Dinkoff Architects & Engineers Inc., RMJM, Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, The Jerde Partnership, Nevzat Sayn (NSMH) and Tuncer Cakmakli Architects.
Sishane Park in Istanbul design by SANAL arc:
photo : olivve.com
The contemporary arts museum, close to the center of the city at a very nice spot, is a building transformed from a large-scale warehouse. With the dissolving of the santralistanbul collection it is again the biggest contemporary arts museum – although surprisingly weak when you think of a city like Istanbul, but it is a good project and a pleasant place to be. Nevzat Sayin’s project “the seed” is also a place to see, in much smaller scale than the other examples, it is a building buried in rocks and between the roots of the old trees, hidden on the Bosphorus shore.
Istanbul Architecture Designs – chronological list – latest buildings on e-architect
Some key architectural sights to visit in this major Turkish city:
Suleymaniye Mosque, ornate 16th-century mosque with gardens, plus a terrace with views over the Golden Horn:
Suleymaniye Mosque Istanbul courtyard
Tophane-i Amire Sanjak Tower:
Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture:
Galata Tower, Beyoğlu district. This building was built as a watchtower at the highest point of the mostly demolished Walls of Galata:
The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, officially the ‘Sultan Ahmed Mosque’, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today:
The Spice Bazaar (Turkish: Mısır Çarşısı, meaning “Egyptian Bazaar”) in, Eminönü, is one of the largest bazaars in the city:
Istanbul University grand entry arches:
Hagia Sophia building exterior form the south:
Hagia Sophia building interior:
Hagia Sophia fresco:
Hagia Sophia columns:
Grand Bazaar:
Nuruosmaniye Mosque, architecturally-significant Ottoman mosque completed in 1755, featuring a huge dome & many windows:
Istanbul Walking Tours
Istanbul Architectural Design Tours can focus on contemporary Turkish architecture or be structured around specific architectural interests of your group, for example interiors or office buildings. Our architecture guides can show your group the historic architecture or just new buildings, or a mixture of both.
Istanbul Architectural Walking Tours
Contact Isabelle Lomholt to arrange your Turkish architectural tour at isabelle(at)e-architect.com or mob.
Payments must be made in full prior to the architectural tour.
Esas Aeropark Building in Istanbul design by Tabanlioglu Architects, Turkey:
photograph : Murat Germen
Yesil Vadi Mosque building:
photograph : Engin Gercek
With itineraries that include housing, meals, and entertainment all packaged into one, MTT Cruises offers a fantastic deal.
Architecture Tour References – see 18 Mar 2013 + 6 Nov 2012
Architecture Tours
e-architect also organise architecture walking tours in other Asian & European cities such as Athens, Jerusalem and New Delhi.
Beyazit Public Library building design by Tabanlioglu Architects
picture : Emre Dorter
Public Library Building in Istanbul
Building Tours
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Istanbul Buildings
Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum, Karaköy Harbor building design by EAA Emre Arolat:
photos : Thomas Mayer, Cemal Emden, Engin Gerçek and EAA Emre Arolat
Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum
In 2009 Entrepot Number 5 in the Karaköy Harbor was allocated to Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University for the purpose of transforming it into the Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum. Thus was the way cleared for the public use of an area which, although located on an important site in the city center, had almost no social permeability, and for the building of an original, high-quality museum to house thousands of valuable works including important pieces of late Ottoman to modern Turkish painting.
Maslak building design by HPP Architekten:
photo : Cemal Emden
Maslak Square, Istanbul Building
Just a few years after completing the 26-storey, internationally award-winning AND Tower in Istanbul, HPP Architects is now delivering the city a new landmark. The building ensemble for the client Kapital Real Estate Development comprises two crystalline volumes of differing heights which will stand in the central business district of Maslak, making a previously inaccessible commercial site available for public use again.
Apple Bagdat Caddesi building design by the celebrated Foster + Partners, an architects office based in London, England:
photograph © Apple
Apple Bagdat Caddesi Istanbul Building
One of the most iconic and lively shopping destinations in Istanbul, the tree-lined avenue attracts visitors from all over the world and is likened to Paris’ Champs-Élysées. The standalone building is set back from the busy shopping street, creating a generous tree-lined square – a public plaza for the celebration of urban life.
Arter Contemporary Art Museum building design by the award-winning British architects office Grimshaw:
photograph : Quintin Lake
Arter Contemporary Art Museum
A subsidiary of Turkey’s philanthropic Vehbi Koç Foundation, Arter Contemporary Art Museum is a vibrant cultural hub that brings together artists and audiences to celebrate contemporary art in all its forms and disciplines. Conceived as a dynamic multi-layered, interdisciplinary public building for showcasing artistic works, it offers a rich cultural programme to stimulate and challenge its audience.
Kanyon Istanbul
Design: The Jerde Partnership with Tabanlioglu Architects
Zorlu Center Istanbul
Design: Tabanlioglu Architects with EAA
Macka Hotel Istanbul
Design: EAA-Emre Arolat Architects
Turkish Architecture
Istanbul Architecture
Istanbul International Financial Center
Istanbul Telecommunications Tower
Comments / photos for the Istanbul Building Tours – Turkish Architecture Guides by e-architect tailored to groups’ specific visit requirements page welcome