The Istanbul Modern, Turkey’s leading contemporary art gallery, has closed its doors on the banks of the Bosphorus, where a new home will be built on the same site.

The museum – in the trendy harbourside area of Karaköy with its Ottoman architecture, modern shops and ancient mosque and baths – is to be demolished and a new building by Pritzker prize-winner Renzo Piano will take its place.

Although Renzo Piano Building Workshop confirms it is taking on the project, it is not yet releasing any further information on renderings. The Italian architect is celebrated for many projects around the world, including London’s Shard, the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York, and MUSE science museum in Trento, Italy.

In the meantime, the Istanbul Modern museum will operate from the Union Française building in Beyoglu about 2km (3.2 miles) away. The museum has been welcoming an increasing number of visitors, totalling more than 7 million in the past seven years.

The new building is part of a wider regeneration of the Karaköy area, with the Galata Port multi-use development. Costing over US$1bn, the cultural and leisure complex will open a stretch of coastline to pedestrians and connect the city to the waterside.

Galata Port is being masterplanned by Dror and Gensler.