BLURB - FINAL

An art gallery that reflects the concepts of exhibiting Australian artists, that is, expressive, textural, ambient, with an element of purity. This results in an idea of unfolding layers. This can be seen the whole way through the gallery, at site 1, starting at the false facade on King St. This facade melds in with the surrounding heritage structures. Passing through the open doorway, there is a full height glass wall. From here you attain the sense of the gallery. Walls protrude from behind other forms, creating a sense of curiosity and enforcing the idea of layers.

Continuing through this threshold, one passes over a small pond of water. It is at this threshold that one completely leaves behind the busy street life of Newtown. Then, one is presented with a choice to go up the spacious, grand stairway to an intimate display of photography, or to weave around the planar walls on the ground floor, where large paintings and large sculptures are displayed. These layers of walls build upon each other, leading to spaces of significance - for example, the first courtyard, situated part way through the gallery, starting where the neighbouring building ends. Here, one can rest and reflect whilst enjoying further smaller sculptures. Here the light is strongest. One can continue through to view the artists working, this workspace hiding a hallway leading to the kitchen area for gallery functions. Then, onwards, to smaller paintings hung on the walls that protrude through the main exterior wall that crescendo in size, leading you to a glass wall towards the back of the long, narrow site, summoning you towards it, where there is the main courtyard - a place to meet, converse and reflect. The sculptural stairs entice one to follow them up to the first floor, or downwards to the grassy courtyard.

The upper level allows one to view the ground level and experience the art from varying perspectives. Here the light is more dim, coming only from below and the strip in the roof where the rooves of differing heights overlap. The apartment comes off this level, the stairs inconspicously placed to the side, allowing privacy. The apartment level follows the form of the upper level but 1.5m higher.

The walls turn into the roof, a darkly glazed structure covered in steel membrames. These become quite sculptural, the strip of light in the roof reflecting off the curved surfaces, diffusing through the gallery.

The storeroom and gallery are inconspicuously placed next to the grand staircase and although the office is accessible to the public for enquiries and sales is not a form of significance.

MODEL

DRAWINGS

1:50 exploration of artist's workshops

1:100 plan ground floor, plan first floor, long section

1:100 Cross section, interior perspectives

1:500 Site plan - Site 1, King St, Newtown.

NARRATIVE AND WORKING DRAWINGS

Using the three artists as inspiration, I wanted the gallery/shop to be focused on the idea of unfolding layers.

It is a simple gallery for the young married owners, that constantly presents the beholder with underlying layers of forms, artwork and ideas.

ARTISTS AS INSPIRATION FOR MY GALLERY/SHOP:

Below are three Australian artists that have captivated me. Together, concepts of layers, expressiveness and purity emerge.

MIKE STACEY

Mike Stacey is a photographer who focuses on vast space and light. Space is his motivating concept, as well as purely showing the primitive objects such as the horizon which can be seen as a boundary as well as an extension. He creates series of photographs that are in the same place but taken at different times of day with different qualities of light.

SALLY SMITH:

Sally Smith is a painter who "celebrates and explores life through the imaginative force of vibrant colour, texture and form." Her work is very expressive and full of layers. Each painting tells a unique story.

ULRICH STEINER:

Sculptures by local sculptor, Ulrich Steiner.

This sculptural artist lives a few suburbs away from me. When I was younger we would go on day trips around this area and look at the farms and art around the place. I remember seeing sculptures by this man. They have organic qualities about them and the materials used (often stainless steel) and forms reflect light and cause refraction etc., creating beautiful qualities.

Precedent Studies

1. Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth - Louis Kahn

The interior light is beautiful - the natural light is silvery and silky over the curved ceiling. The planar walls create a jagged movement around the gallery allowing one to view everything on display.

Images from flickr

2. Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver - Arthur Erickson

This is one example of layering and fully glazed surfaces. Within, it is very open, allowing fluid movement around the walls.

Image from http://loftlifemag.com/mu/files/2009/04/img_5178-copy-loh.jpg

Exterior facing water.

Image from http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/hall.gif

Interior

3. Musee d'Orsay, Paris - Gae Aulenti

Image from http://images.nextstop.com/e901ccfc-5638-4bc5-b5ac-f6c0643c34c9_300sq

High domes open the space up more and causes light to bounce around the interior forms.

Image from: https://cdis.missouri.edu/exec/data/courses2/coursegraphics/6671/L01_musee_dOrsay.jpg

SITE 1 PHOTOS

Site 1 Photos:

Facade of existing building approx 10m high.Back of site (narrow building on left) and laneway:
Shops on the right hand side of existing building:
Shops on left hand side of existing building:
Back/side of site 1:

I chose site 1 as I wanted the challenge of dealing with a relatively narrow, long site. I also thought this was suitable for my idea of layers building up to reach something significant at the end of the site.

Final Presentation

A Retreat for a Romantic Novelist

This is a series of spaces for the author to work and relax. It is a place of inspiration, where ideas can take seed and flourish. 

It is partly embedded into an Australian hillside, apart from a busy city, giving a greater freedom for thoughts and ideas to take flight.

The curvilinear forms are reminiscent of seduction and sensuality, reflecting ideas within the novels created from within. Only one wall has windows. They face east, so the morning light floods her workspace. These windows reflect the forms of the bookcase on the opposite internal wall which are set into the wall. 

Bookcase outline - set into wall

Entering on the west side, a planar wall blocks one from continuing straight ahead. It creates curiosity  - what is behind? What is around it? It is a wall that encases her desk, which can fold in and out of it. It also acts as a vector leading one towards the stairs and to the lower level. The rest of the upper room acts as a place for conversation(due to the long, wide window seat) and a space for reflection - upon work or the outside world. 

Stairs act as a threshold between spaces. There is a plain, general set of stairs, flanked on either side by double height stairs that act as seats, where one can pause and reflect. The lower level is purely for leisure, containing an indoor garden. This, as well as the windows, are a direct connection to the outside yet are distinctly separated from the outside by the thick concrete walls (emulated by plaster of paris)- this idea is similar to the distinction between lit spaces in Pieter de Hooch's painting.

The roof is translucent(I dipped tissue paper in wax), thus the incoming light is diffused rather than harsh. This creates an ambient setting appropriate for a romantic. It also allows one to watch the stars by night and the clouds by day and rainfall would create a mesmorising effect. Again, this materiality creates a connection to the outer as well as natural inspiration, yet protected from the elements. At night, from the outside, the structure would glow fantastically, transcending the everyday.

The main walls blend into the roof and the floor, such fluidity aligned with the fluid thoughts of an author and romance.

Drawings:

Bookcase form is evident in far wall.