The design and coordination of a new art gallery within provided op.AL with an opportunity to examine many of the recurrent optic tropes from our more speculative projects. As a part of a new development scheme for a historic street, the Italian American Museum encompasses two above and two below grade levels, posing a challenge for light and air. The office organized a strategy for obtaining a CCD1 variance to maintain light throughout the subterranean levels utilizing a four story atrium - a critical organizing design element below a central skylight. The supergraphic, or flat figures extending across multiple planes assist in tying the disparate interior and exterior into a configured whole approach to the gallery.
The entry points of light and threshold, the objects of the storefront and the skylight have provided the design with a sense of grounding and a series of fixed objects that can be used for the coordinated play of the graphic ceiling. This device provides the gallery with a coherent and figural identity which is able to bind the multiple floor proposal with a sense of coherency and character. Enveloped in the high order graphic, is the central staircase uniting the ground floor and the mezzanine levels. This stair, which is organized around a forced perspective attenuates the modest footprint of the museum’s ground floor space.
The facade, set back from the street provides a public space as a steward of the historic neighborhood while serving as a grand portal into the museum. The entry window gestures towards the corner of the historic district, allowing for large views and light to spill onto the street alerting the tourists and flâneurs to the internal artwork and programming. The setback canopy utilizes a partial oblique cone to mediate between the figural window and the overall Morris Adjmi overall building grid. The pocketed storefront results in a design that playfully honors past traditions through contemporary materials and geometry.
/ Project Team
op.AL Team - Jonathan A. Scelsa, Massi Surrat, Andy Kim, Yarzar Hlaing, + Evan Craker
Consultants - Jason Little Architect, Focus Lighting, ABS Engineering
Museum Branding - Karlsson Wilker Inc.
Contractor - Empire State Contractors, inDetail LLC
/ Collaborators
Building Architect - Morris Adjmi
Building Developer - NEXUS Building Development Group
/ Image Credits
Photography © Sahar Coston-Hardy / Esto. All rights reserved.
/ Project Info
Project Type - Museum + Gallery
Client - The Italian American Museum
Square Footage - 6,500 Square Feet
Project Date - In Construction, Estimated Completion Winter 2024