Shaping Beauty

img.0All images courtesy of SO-IL

New York-based design office SO-IL has revealed plans for ‘artes amant’ — a concrete art gallery to be built in an industrial Brooklyn neighborhood. The complex, which also contains artist studios, is defined by its unorthodox construction, a design which that architects refer to as ‘an exploration in soft form’.

img.1View towards terrace

Within the design, a cluster of ‘shells’ acts to diffuse an exterior presence and consequently shapes the building’s interior. ‘The self-supporting geometry of these shells exists in tension with programming, light, and circulation’, explains SO-IL. ‘The constant calibration of these constraints inform the contours of the building.’

img.2Gallery view

Carefully positioned apertures carry natural light into a nearly edgeless interior, challenging the perception of a rigidly defined space. The building’s exterior is characterized by edges and seams that slip in and out of appearance. The project’s muted palette continues the play between ambiguity and legibility, with an enticing pale concrete façade that engages with the existing urban fabric.

img.3Sculpture gallery

img.4section

img.5axonometric view

Project Info

location: brooklyn, new york, USA

program: gallery, artist studiosarea: 1,320 sqm / 14,250 sqf

status: construction documents; expected 2017

team: florian idenburg, jing liu, ilias papageorgiou, kevin lamyuktseung, kerim miskavi, ted baab, lucie rebeyrol, pietro pagliaro, hannes kalau vom hofe, john chow

collaborators: architect of record: andrew reyniakstructural: schlaich bergermann und partnerMEP: altieri sebor wieber LLC consulting engineerslighting: renfro design groupcladding consultant: simpson gumpertz & hegerenvelope

consultant: certain measurescivil: PW grosserexpediter: j. callahan consulting, inc.concrete: reginald hough associatesgeotechnical: langan engineeringacoustics / AV: harvey marshall berling associates

Via Designboom