ARCH_500-600 Options Studio Comprehensive: ‘Structure, Light, Atmosphere – Spaces for Art’

In this comprehensive studio, students investigated how to create spaces for art that go beyond the generic “white cube,” and instead offer a relevant character and specific atmosphere that does not compete with the works of art within. Students reviewed the relationship between artwork, architectural setting, and experience while searching for contemporary solutions.

Atmosphere was considered in the context of installation and how viewers experience art. Basic issues relating to gallery design were studied: spatial composition, influenced by the desire of the visitor to explore, to make a tour; typologies of the galleries, from classic enfilade room-based galleries to open industrial-like spaces; and the walls, which need to be arranged to create the best conditions for hanging paintings as well as form the spatial framework within which the visitor navigates. Other elements considered include light (natural and artificial) and the horizontal surfaces of the floor and ceiling. The principles of daylight design were also emphasized, especially the North American versus the Northern European approaches to daylight. The studio also addressed flexibility and room re-configurations and the changing role of museums in the digital world.

Students analyzed these issues through fieldtrips to historic and contemporary key art institutions in St. Louis and New York City. They were then challenged to explore them on the basis of a new design for the southwest wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (The design task was a variation of the real brief of the project, which is currently on hold.)

Since its beginning in 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art grew through additions and modifications into what now includes 21 buildings in its current physical presence on Fifth Avenue. Its growth is both the story of the expanding collections and of its continuous architectural development. While the collections—in particular the modern and contemporary works—continue to grow, park and city authorities do not permit further physical growth of the building. The current southwest wing, which houses the modern and contemporary galleries, neither meets standards for international museums nor fulfills the spatial needs of the collection.

Students developed their own critical position informed by a response to the site, context, and program. How can a new wing provide more sufficient gallery space without changing the current footprint and envelope of the existing building? What kind of external form and character will balance developing a new identity while maintaining a relationship with the old? Students were asked to develop a coherent scheme, translating from an urban, spatial, and atmospheric vision into a technical, integrated project. Gallery specific building services, structure, lighting, and materiality were discussed early on and questioned until students developed solutions that supported their overall idea and intention, with the overall focus being a rigorous development from idea to a consistent proposal.