Archinect - News

Peterson Rich Office transforms former church into an inviting new cultural center in Detroit's East Village

2024-03-12T18:18:00-04:00

The adaptive reuse design for the Shepherd Gallery and Art Center inside the new Little Village in Detroit has been revealed ahead of its public opening on May 18th.

The project from Peterson Rich Office (PRO) transformed a 110-year-old former church into a new cultural center for the local Library Street Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to presenting art in the city's revitalized heritage spaces. It was executed at 16,000 square feet and culminates in two new galleries with a small library, classrooms, and workshop included for local community endeavors.

View of the Charles McGee Legacy Park and the Shepherd. Photo by Jason Keen. Courtesy of Library Street Collective.

In terms of its interior redesign, the architects chose to place an exhibition area in the transept mezzanine while making the altar below into another gallery open for performance and public gatherings. The church's other transept now houses a curated Little Village Arts Library space from Asmaa Walton. A landscaped...

Eames Institute unveils new Eames Archives space in the Bay Area

2024-02-01T18:24:00-05:00

The nearly two-year-old Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has shared news of its arrival in a new permanent home in the San Francisco Bay Area that will consolidate its archival collection under one roof for the first time.

The new location helps the Institute engage with the collection, which had until now been warehoused at the Eames Office global headquarters in Venice, California. The new Eames Archives will now be housed and exhibited in a gallery space located in Richmond, California, about 15 minutes north of Oakland.

Ray & Charles Eames. Image courtesy Eames Office

Plans had been originally to have the archive located at the Eames Institute’s ranch complex in nearby Sonoma County. Now, the nonprofit's first public space includes a Gallery, Collections Center, and Archives Study Center for its more than 40,000 artifacts overseen by dedicated on-site preservation specialists. A small gift shop bookends the experience. The Eames Institute says this is all vital to making it...

Scott Brownrigg's Rhondda Tunnel will transform a disused railway portal into the world's longest digital art space

2022-07-15T11:30:00-04:00

An imposing new cultural project will transform what was once a railway link in the Welsh countryside into what London-based studio Scott Browrigg says will be the world’s longest digital art space once it is completed in a few years.

By remaking the last vestiges of a 130-year-old abandoned rail tunnel formerly pegged to become a walking path and bike trail, the new arts-centered scheme will deliver an in-demand tourist destination that connects the two communities of Blaencwm and Blaengwynfi located at either end.

Image courtesy Scott Brownrigg

One might say this is a real windfall for the critically-important (especially in terms of an exhibition settings) area of wayfinding. The design made the cut for the recently-announced 2022 WAF shortlist in the Future Project: Culture category and will strive for a BREEAM Excellent rating, according to the firm.

To the east, the tunnel’s entrance will be defined by either a land art referencing hotel, while in its west, on the Blaengwynfi s...

Neue Nationalgalerie finally reopens in Berlin following a David Chipperfield Architects-led restoration

2021-08-24T13:16:00-04:00

Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie is finally back open following a six-year, $160 million refurbishment by David Chipperfield Architects.

The original Mies van der Rohe building from 1968 now features a restored glass facade, expanded exhibition space, sculpture garden, and improved LED lighting.

Chipperfield incorporated an earlier unrealized design for a Bacardi Rum corporation building in Cuba. The building itself was taken apart in 35,000 individual segments which each required their own 16-digit bar codes.

“We had to turn over every stone,” DCA’s Martin Reichert told the Art Newspaper last week before the museum reopening. “But we had to treat it with the same care shown by restorers handling a world-famous artwork. After 50 years of use with no refurbishment, there were a great many deficits—this was not just a case of fixing things, it was about making sure it survives the next 30 to 40 years without additional renovation work.”

White Room Inspires Interaction

2021-07-14T13:52:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by AF New York

What does an all-white room signify to you? For me, it’s a fraught mix of sanitarium/hospital, a sort of blank slate for digital reality a la The Matrix, and a vaguely heavenly connotation—like something from a film in which Morgan Freeman plays God. Now, what if we adorn said room with all-white upscale bathroom fixtures? What if we bedeck it from tip to toe with Victoria & Albert washbasins, Duravit vanities, Geberit U.S.A. flush plates, and Infinity Drains? How would that make you feel?

Juliana Fajardo, Chief of Staff at AF New York, is betting that this very unorthodox and equally provocative installation will provoke a powerful reaction, one way or another: “The gallery style, the re-contextualization of these objects, allows you to appreciate them on another level, to experience the different textures, the artfulness and the beauty of the forms.”

Kaldewei Washbasins

Looking at White Room’s many mounted urinals, one can’t help but think...

Take a look at the Chipperfield-refurbished Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin

2021-05-27T17:29:00-04:00

Nearly a decade after being appointed to refurbish one of Modernism's most iconic buildings, the team of architect David Chipperfield wrapped up construction on the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

In a recent virtual ceremony, the keys were handed over to the clients — Berlin State Museums and Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation — and the building is being readied now to re-open to the public in August with an exhibition of Alexander Calder sculptures.

The gallery, which first opened in 1968, is the only building designed by German-born architect and former Bauhaus director Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Europe after his emigration to the United States in 1937.

"The existing building fabric has been refurbished and upgraded to current technical standards with a minimum of visual compromise to the building’s original appearance," notes a statement from David Chipperfield Architects. "The functional and technical upgrades include air-conditioning, artificia...

Modernizing a modernist icon: Neue Nationalgalerie to reopen next summer after Chipperfield-led renovation

2020-11-04T13:46:00-05:00

The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is set to reopen in the summer of 2021, more than six years after it closed for renovation, with an exhibition of the American sculptor Alexander Calder in the temple-like steel-and-glass upper level of the building. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and first opened in 1968, the museum is undergoing a €100m modernisation and refurbishment by the Berlin-based British architect David Chipperfield [...].

Reflecting on the significance, and also quirks, of Mies van der Rohe's 1967 New National Gallery, the architect of the ambitious renovation project, David Chipperfield, told the New York Times in a 2017 interview: "Mies took architecture to its extreme. And as a result, the building has some… let’s not call them flaws — it has some challenges, which we’ve had to address."

Fotografiska London plans canceled

2020-09-24T13:34:00-04:00

Plans for Fotografiska's gallery in London’s East End—billed as the world’s largest photography venue by the British Journal of Photography—has been quietly cancelled, with the founders citing Covid-19 and uncertainty around Brexit as the reasons for pulling out of the project. The Stockholm-based photography hub Fotografiska was founded in 2010 by brothers Jan and Per Broman.

The ambitious proposal for a 89,000 sq ft Fotografiska London satellite first appeared on Archinect in 2017.

Long-awaited floor plan and interior gallery images of Peter Zumthor's LACMA redesign emerge

2020-09-18T17:03:00-04:00

There have been countless unknowns surrounding LACMA’s vast rebuilding project: the nature of the landscaping, whether the underside of the massive concrete structure would feel like a pleasant, shady spot or an oppressive freeway underpass, where the museum’s playful Alexander Calder fountain sculpture might go. The biggest question mark has hovered over the form and nature of the galleries...

With the fate of Los Angeles' beloved LACMA museum making headlines since Swiss architect Peter Zumthor received the bid, public response to its redesign has been primarily negative and controversial. With construction well underway despite the recent pandemic, images of museum interiors and gallery plans have been shared.

Ground level floor plan courtesy of LACMA

Exhibition floor plan courtesy of LACMA

Core gallery render of David Geffen Galleries. Image © ATELIER PETER ZUMTHOR & PARTNER/THE BOUNDARY

Los Angeles Times writer Carolina A. Miranda provides the public with a breakdown of what to expect thanks to renders and a long-awaited floor plan. Miranda shares, "other than necessary mechanical systems and bathrooms, the building's entire second story will be devoted to galleries, a total of 110,000 square feet of exhibition space. The galleries are composed of two dozen rectilinear spaces — basically, boxes — arranged in clusters and surrounded by interstitial spaces that will also ...

Rafael Viñoly to renovate former National Academy building in NYC

2020-02-12T15:30:00-05:00

One of the Upper East Side buildings that was once home to the National Academy of Design will soon get a starchitect-designed revamp. At a hearing this week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve a Rafael Viñoly-designed plan to renovate one of the museum’s former holdings, with some modifications.

Plagued by financial troubles in recent years, the National Academy had sold, among other properties on Fifth Avenue, its historic building on East 89th Street to Salon 94 art gallery in 2016

"The owner of the gallery, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, hired Viñoly to restore the landmarked building’s facade, replace windows and doors, enlarge some areas of the structure, and add two stories to the roof area of the building," reports Curbed New York.

Existing building (left) and proposed expansion (right). Image courtesy of NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Click here to take a look at Viñoly's detailed renovation and expansion proposal which the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve this week.

Virgil Abloh's latest concrete collection reminds us how an architecture education can push creativity

2020-02-10T11:50:00-05:00

Recognized as the creative world's "jack of all trades," Virgil Abloh's multidisciplinary approach to design has positioned him as one of the industry's top rising talents. Over the last decade, his impact on the music and fashion industries has quickly created a robust following for the 39-year-old designer. Abloh's most recent venture outside of the fashion world pivots away from clothing, slightly, and toward concrete furniture pieces that retain his trademark nods to street culture.

Image © Morgane Le Gall. Courtesy of Galerie kreo

Abloh's furniture collection, "Efflorescence," showcases seats, coffee tables, and vases crafted from hard, concrete shapes embellished with bright graffiti and porous geometries. In addition, companion pieces include large, steel mirrors filled with holes that offer wavy and distorted reflections. The Brutalist-lite collection includes a total of 20 pieces on display at Galerie kreo in Paris, France. A...

Today Sotheby's unveils its newly expanded and redesigned New York galleries by OMA

2019-05-03T19:15:00-04:00

Today Sotheby's unveils its redesigned and newly-expanded gallery located in their global headquarters in New York. In collaboration with Sotheby's by Shohei Shigematsu and OMA, the redesign features updated exhibition spaces that provide optimal spatial layouts for their vast art collections. Comprised of 40 public galleries and nine private sales salons, the new space has become the premier location for art exhibitions in terms of scale, quality, flexibility, and scope. Able to accommodate a wide range of art at varying scales, the new space increases Sotheby's exhibition size from 67,000 to more than 90,000 square feet, which is an expansion equivalent to two acres.

Sotheby's NY by OMA. Image © Brett Beyer Photography

CEO of Sotheby's Tad Smith shares, "Our ambition was to co...

OMA reorganizes Sotheby’s New York City HQ as a four-story art department store with 40 galleries

2019-02-22T14:23:00-05:00

The art market is rapidly changing, and even the big players aren't immune to the need for adjustment: auction power house Sotheby's today revealed a few conceptual glimpses into a dramatic reorganization and expansion of its NYC headquarters at 1334 York Avenue.

The redesign, led by OMA Partner Shohei Shigematsu and Associate Christy Cheng, optimizes the currently inefficient, sprawling distribution of locations of employee, client-serving and back of house spaces throughout the massive building; increasing the available exhibition space from 67,000 to more than 90,000 square feet—the equivalent of two acres.

Aerial sketch. Credit: OMA New York.

"Our conceptual proposal clarifies the overall flow through the building by restacking and consolidating complementary programs while freeing up space for improved connectivity and openness—new retail, gallery and client spaces span the first four floors to better engage clients and visitors," explains the project description.

F1 Lobby. Cr...

New computer game 'Occupy White Walls' gives players the chance to build and curate their own galleries

2018-12-18T15:49:00-05:00

A new video game is giving players the chance to be their own curator and gallery designer. Called 'Occupy White Walls,' the upcoming massively multiplayer online game—which is currently in free public alpha—allows you to build your own art space using modular architectural blocks.

Developed by London-based start-up StikiPixels, the game provides 1,462 architectural assets (with many more on the way) for you to create your own ambitious gallery. Players can pull from the vast catalogues of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC to fill their walls. And, for emerging artists, you can even upload your own work to put on display.

In an interview, CEO Yarden Yaroshevski described the game as a new type of MMO centered around creativity and self-expression."Different players will aim for different things; some will be all about in-game creativity – through building, designing and decorating their spaces – others will focus on discover...

A Conversation with Sou Fujimoto on the "Futures of the Future"

2018-11-01T14:43:00-04:00

This week we’re sharing my conversation with Sou Fujimoto, recorded immediately before his new show opened to the press at Japan House in Hollywood last Friday. The show, titled “FUTURES OF THE FUTURE”, brings together large scale renderings and photographs, along with over 100 models showcasing a selection of Fujimoto’s distinctive work and process.

"Futures of the Future" exhibition, photo (c) JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles

Sou Fujimoto in the "Futures of the Future" exhibition, photo (c) JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles

Our conversation covers his upbringing in Hokkaido, his academic and personal studies in Tokyo, and how these experiences contributed to his highly unique approach to architecture; investigating primitive lifestyles, blurring boundaries and breaking down walls. If you’re in the LA area, the exhibition will be remain until December 12th at Japan House, which is located on the 2nd floor of the bustling, tourist-filled Hollywood and Highland complex.

"Futures of the Future" exhibiti...

Assemble completes new Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, opening September 8

2018-09-06T20:44:00-04:00

It is an inventive fusion of the industrial and the crafted that runs throughout the project [...] Throughout, there are details that show the architects’ interest in how the building has been made and altered over time, and an awareness that their interventions are part of the ongoing life of the place, forming a richly layered canvas for artists to add to in turn.

The Guardian's Oliver Wainwright gives a first look into the new Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, which opens September 8. The project is the first permanent building of the young Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble, who won the competition in 2014 to transform the former Victorian-era bath house into a new art gallery complex. “It was a brave choice from Goldsmiths, but the risk has paid off,” Wainwright writes.

Showing off: 10 inspiring exhibition spaces for your Friday inspiration

2018-06-08T12:59:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the NEW board Exhibition Spaces.

↑ Studio Roel in Mexico City by Dellekamp Arquitectos + Andrés Palomino; Photo: Sandra Pereznieto

↑ Abdullah Gul Presidential Museum and Library in Kayseri, Turkey by EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture

↑ Dom-Ino Pavilion in Shenzhen, China by Benyuan Design and Research Center with Future + Academy; Photo: Zhang Chao

↑ Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT by Ennead Architects

↑ 798 BRIC Gallery in Beijing, China by maison h; Photo: Martijn de Geus

↑ Multi-lattice Art Museum Renovation in Beijing, China by AntiStatics Architecture Design

↑ SculptureCenter in Long Island City, NY by Andrew Berman Arch...

The Transart Foundation for Art and Anthropology finds permanent home in Houston designed by SCHAUM/SHIEH

2018-05-14T17:36:00-04:00

The Transart Foundation for Art and Anthropology merges two fields not often associated with one another, supporting experimental work at the intersection of art and anthropology. Previously a nomadic space, the multidisciplinary institution recently found a permanent home in Houston, Texas, in a new building designed by the budding, semi-local firm Schaum/Shieh. Founded by Troy Schaum and Rosalyne Shieh, the studio is based out of Houston and New York City. Known for their surprising forms that celebrate the surrounding landscape, the duo created a multidisciplinary space that supports the multifaceted work of the small arts institution.

Courtesy of SCHAUM/SHIEH.

“The project is designed around a 3,000-square-foot gallery & library. This large “living room” is punctuated in the middle by a circulation core that integrates steps and a library, expanding into a second-floor salon that is open to the space below, effectively dividing the gallery into two adjacent exhibition spaces. The...

An augmented reality art exhibit hijacks MoMA's Jackson Pollock gallery

2018-04-27T14:57:00-04:00

NEW YORK’S MUSEUM of Modern Art is under siege. Well, a virtual siege, at least. A group of renegade artists has co-opted the brightly-lit Jackson Pollock gallery on the museum’s fifth floor, turning it into their personal augmented reality playground. [...] those that have downloaded the MoMAR Gallery app on their smartphones, the impressionist's iconic paintings are merely markers—points of reference telling the app where to display the guerilla artists’ works.

MoMAR's augmented reality app and the unauthorized accompanying group show Hello, we're from the internet explore the intersection of private physical space and the public digital realm. "MoMAR is an unauthorized gallery concept aimed at democratizing physical exhibition spaces, museums, and the curation of art within them," the group explains on its website. "MoMAR is non-profit, non-owned, and exists in the absence of any privatized structures."

Get the app on Android or iOS and head to MoMA's Jackson Pollock room on the 5th floor to see Hello, we're from the internet until May 3.

Steven Holl's Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU to open April 21

2018-04-17T15:14:00-04:00

Steven Holl Architects' new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will open to the public on April 21, 2018. The ICA's new building named the Markel Center will debut with its inaugural exhibition Declaration, an exploration of contemporary art’s power to respond to pressing social issues. This will be Virginia's first art institution dedicated exclusively to exhibiting contemporary art.

Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU Markel Center at night. Image: Iwan Baan.

Aerial view of the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Image: Iwan Baan.

The building features dual entrances opening to the city’s arts district on one side and VCU’s Monroe Park campus on the other, providing a connection between the two.

View of the Royall Forum at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Image: Iwan Baan.

Steven Holl Architects activated the 41,000 square feet of space with an open design to create flexibility. With an inviting 33-foot-high central forum, ...

Assemble-converted Goldsmiths CCA gallery to open in September

2018-03-01T14:53:00-05:00

London gets a major new contemporary art gallery this autumn with the launch of the long-awaited Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art on 8 September. [...] Assemble, the London-based architects who won the Turner Prize in 2015, were selected in 2014 to convert former public baths and Victorian water tanks on the south London campus into the new 1,000 sq. m centre housing eight gallery spaces.

Goldsmiths CCA under construction. Photo via the school's website.

Previously: Goldsmiths to Build Public Art Gallery

OMA reveals renovation plans to transform the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow

2018-02-20T13:42:00-05:00

OMA/Rem Koolhaas have released plans for their redesign of Moscow's New Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val. As one of Russia's largest museums, the space hosts 20th century Russian and Soviet art including works by Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall, and Soviet artists such as Aleksandr Deyneka and Vera Mukhina.

Image courtesy of OMA.

Image Courtesy of OMA.

Since 1985, the gallery has sat in a large modern building designed by N.P. Sukoyan and Y.N. Sheverdyaev that consists of multiple exhibition halls for a total floor area of 61.091m². OMA's redesign will create four distinct sections of the museum—a space for art storage, an Education Center, room to house the collection, and a Festival Hall. The renovation will also focus on creating a new entrance along the Moscow river and carefully placed cutouts in the façade will open up the interior spaces to the city.

Image courtesy of OMA.

The redesign will be OMA's third cultural project in Russia, having previously worked on ...

Renzo Piano to design new $50M art gallery for mega-dealer David Zwirner

2018-01-09T18:22:00-05:00

That, Mr. Zwirner said, is the site of what in the fall of 2020 will become the new heart of his New York operation: a five-story, $50 million gallery designed by Renzo Piano. [...] The precise design has yet to be determined — Mr. Piano is in the early stages of the process. But it is likely to have a similarly spare aesthetic to Mr. Zwirner’s current spaces, by Annabelle Selldorf.

In its article about art dealer David Zwirner's upcoming Renzo Piano-designed gallery and global headquarters, the NYT recounts a telephone interview with Piano about (early) design visions for the building: "You kill art by making just white boxes, so you need to integrate emotion in some way. You cannot be neutral, because otherwise you disappear."

David Zwirner's current portfolio of NYC galleries includes this 20th Street gallery in West Chelsea by Selldorf Architects. Photo: Jason Schmidt.

When completed in 2020, the building will be the Zwirner art empire's fifth gallery in New York and the seventh worldwide.

New Royal Academy of Arts' transformative redevelopment set to open in May 2018

2017-12-13T14:23:00-05:00

Celebrating its upcoming 250th anniversary year, the Royal Academy of Arts will open a new campus to the public in May 2018. The design for the redevelopment is by Sir David Chipperfield CBE RA, and will bring new (and free) collections to the public with 70% more space than the current footprint. The development will also join Burlington House and Burlington Gardens to unify the two-acre campus.

Exciting tours and exhibitions are planned, celebrating both the history of the institution and works from students in the RA schools. This mix, and the promise of free entry to collections is certain to bring more people to the institution. The artist and architect-led RA will also encourage public involvement with the new Architecture Studio, set in The Dorfman Senate Rooms. These creative spaces invite not only engagement, but the opportunity for the public to become part of this interaction of art and architecture.

Fotografiska London to launch in Whitechapel

2017-11-03T11:33:00-04:00

Opening November 2018 will be London’s largest permanent home for photography, Fotografiska London. The 89,000 sq ft gallery will have ticketed entry, but since it can show up to seven separate exhibitions, this ticket will get you far. This new home for photography follows Fotografiska’s successful gallery in Stockholm which features new talent alongside the world’s most celebrated photographers, and has become a major visitor attraction in the seven years since opening. Londoners can expect solo exhibitions, themed shows, and charity collaborations – all of which will be highly interactive with app and social media integration.

The project, which benefits from its accessible location in Whitechapel will include a bar, café, and two restaurants serving sustainable cuisine. Fotografiska's hope is to follow the successful self-set example of their Stockholm gallery's recently awarded 'Restaurant of the Year'. To attract product launches and events, the building will also house a conf...

10 exhibition spaces from around the world for your Friday inspiration

2017-10-13T19:57:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the NEW board Exhibition Spaces.

↑ Grand Louvre Modernization in Paris, France by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

↑ Museum of Design Art and Architecture [MODAA] in Culver City, CA by SPF:a - Studio Pali Fekete architects

↑ Ghost Gallery in Oklahoma City, OK by Elliott + Associates Architects; Photo: Scott McDonald, Hedrich Blessing

↑ Design Republic Design Commune in Shanghai, China by Neri&Hu Design and Research Office; Photo: Pedro Pegenaute

↑ Archaeological Pavilion, Elisengarten in Aachen, Germany by kadawittfeldarchitektur; Photo: Jens Kirchner

↑ The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA by Selldorf Architects; Photo: Mike Agee

↑ Museum o...

"Mies really was a magician": David Chipperfield on the challenges of renovating the Neue Nationalgalerie

2017-09-28T14:27:00-04:00

“We’re like surgeons around a body,” said David Chipperfield as he looked at Berlin’s New National Gallery. The building, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the 20th century’s greatest architects, was almost as bare as it had been at its topping-out ceremony, in April 1967. The British architect and his lieutenant, Martin Reichert [...] surveyed the dirty steel frame and exposed concrete walls atop weed-strewn sand. “We’ve opened him up and now we’re looking at him.’”

Roughly half-way through the enormous undertaking of renovating Mies van der Rohe's 1967 masterpiece, the New National Gallery in Berlin, David Chipperfield allows us a glimpse into the structure's completely gutted belly, chats about the challenges of touching an icon, and shares some of the personal lessons he learned about the gallery's original architect.

"Mies took architecture to its extreme,” Chipperfield tells the New York Times' Gerrit Wiesmann. "And as a result, the building has some… let’s not call them flaws — it has some challenges, which we’ve had to address."

New Rooftop Observatory launched at Bold Tendencies

2017-07-25T05:36:00-04:00

Peckham’s famous multi-storey car park has a new addition; a new viewing gallery created by Cooke Fawcett. The young practice, based in London’s creative Clerkenwell, was formed just two years ago, by directors Oliver Cooke and Francis Fawcett, after working on the Tate’s Switch House at Stirling-prize winning practice Herzog & de Meuron.

This project, a spectacular kiosk and viewing gallery for arts space Bold Tendencies, will not only provide breathtaking views of London but also act as an interactive setting for installations and specially commissioned art pieces. This arts-focused structure joins (and benefits from) Peckham’s famous rooftop hangout, Frank’s Bar. Over the past decade, the Peckham multi-storey car park has been slowly transformed by Bold Tendancies, through a programme of culture. Immersive public space and unique views have drawn over a million visitors south of the river, to this unlikely home of the arts.

Francis Fawcett: “For an avant garde cultural institut...

Moscow's new Avant-Garde Museum opens to the public

2017-07-14T17:22:00-04:00

As government officials in Moscow earmark Constructivist buildings for demolition in a massive project to relocate up to 1.6 million of the city’s residents, a non-profit museum dedicated to preserving Russia’s avant-garde architecture has opened in the Shabolovka neighbourhood.

The new Avant-Garde Museum is located in Na Shabolovke Gallery, which is a part of Khavsko-Shabolovsky housing complex built in the late 1920s by the rationalist Asnova (Association of New Architects). It is part of a district with a rich heritage of early Soviet architecture and design, dominated by the famous hyperboloid Shukhov radio tower. Supported by private grants and volunteers, the museums features photographs, video footage, archaeological fragments, archival materials, blueprints, salvaged interior fittings such as door handle, and tools belonging to the tower's visionary engineer, Vladimir Shukov.

"The idea for the space came from the local historian and activist Ilya Malcow, who has spent years collecting artifacts of the area—many of which are now on show at the museum. The neighborhood is unique, he says, because it was built virtually from scratch after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 to house workers for the new factories and institutions.

Photo by Olga Alexeyenk...

A MAD gallery in Beijing that doubles as "a new facade for the city"

2017-05-30T19:16:00-04:00

Galleries often act as stagnant interior display spaces: their primary function is to host works in a relatively unobtrusive way that is artful without being ostentatious. But what about galleries that are designed to serve another purpose, as the freshly completed Roca’s Beijing Gallery in Dongzhimen by MAD Architects does?

Instead of tacking a few fixed pieces onto the walls, the gallery itself has an interior LED-laden wall that projects images both of gallery visitors and the pedestrians outside in a purposeful attempt to create an interface with the surrounding urban environment. Imagine combining the introspective mirror and looped video concepts of someone like Dan Graham with the aesthetic thirst for juxtaposition of a gallery curator: the rotating series of images, which was designed by art critic and curator Jérôme Sans, changes at varying intervals, and can be glimpsed by those passing by outside.

Sometimes the changes occur in seconds; in others, days go by before the imag...