The slaughterhouse, which was the largest slaughtering facility in Istanbul, began to operate only as a meat distribution center after 1985 due to concerns that it polluted the Golden Horn.

[6] Bedrettin Dalan, the mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality at the time, decided to turn the idle slaughterhouse into a cultural center within the scope of the Golden Horn project.

No progress was made during the term of Nurettin Sözen, who became the mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality after Bedrettin Dalan.

The construction tender, which was the first concrete step to transform the idle slaughterhouse into a cultural center, was made in 1997 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the then Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor.

[9] The project, designed by Prof Dr Cengiz Eruzun, was planned to be completed by 1999, but was finished in March 2009 and the building was opened with the 5th World Water Council meeting.