As a result of Istanbul becoming the European Capital of Culture in 2010, Metaphor created a Strategic Vision for the Sur-i Sultani, the city’s historic peninsula, which houses Topkapi Palace.
 

Metaphor’s Masterplan incorporated the Archaeology Museum complex, the Byzantine church of Aya Irini, the Ottoman Imperial Mint and the First Court and landscape around the Palace. Metaphor’s role was twofold: to make the different cultural strands easier for visitors to understand inside the historic buildings and across the landscape; and, in the longer term, to turn the historic peninsula into a world-class museum quarter.