Main Gallery
The design rejects the concept of the ideal “white cube” gallery by providing exhibition space that allows for the authenticity of the historical structure of a 1920s industrial building to be revealed. The existing heavy timber columns and beams, having been stripped to their natural wood, intervene throughout the space. The irregular structural pattern creates a figure from the main entry area though the galleries and into the private viewing room.
Mediating between the elevator lobby and the gallery space, the reception area also creates a facade for the administrative zone which includes the gallery directors office with it's "eye" window to view entering patrons. The common administrative area has a movable privacy screen. The reception countertop is laboratory grade epoxy resin.
The structural elements interact with the exhibition spaces. Sight lines and continuity of wall surfaces have been maintained and controlled by careful planning of the varied gallery spaces.
New walls allow the original structure to dominate and continue through by the careful use of reveals.
The client viewing room is served directly by the storage racks of the preparation / storage room.