There is significant ambiguity over what continent Istanbul sits on. Strictly speaking, Turkey is a European country, which means its largest city is part of Europe.  Yet Istanbul actually straddles two different continental landmasses, the only metropolis in the world to do so, which means it is, in effect, half European, half Asian. A bridge between East and West.

First founded in 1884, the State Library building was originally the soup kitchen and Caravanserai of a complex that included a kitchen, a primary school, a hospital, a madrasah and a hammam. The library is a section of the Kulliyah of the Beyazıt Mosque–the oldest surviving imperial mosque in the city–built by Sultan Beyazıt II and completed in 1506.

The entire design concept is infused with historical connections of a literary nature while the “minimal intervention” approach ensures the spirit of the place survives while modern facilities are grafted onto the historic fabric.The project aims further for environmental betterment, and urban regeneration of the public realm by reviving all the traces and capacities, principally the Beyazıt Public Square.

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