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Click
on images for larger views. [Google Earth link]
The first day of December saw the much anticipated opening
of the New
Museum of Contemporary Art's new home on the Bowery by
the Japanese duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, aka SANAA.
Featured previously on this
page in project form in early 2004, the final product
looks almost exactly like the renderings. This is less a testament
to the realism of computer-based renderings than it is to
the architects' ability to to cull abstract effects from the
physical construction of architecture.
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Approaching the building, the
ethereal effects of light reflecting off the outer skin of
aluminum mesh gives way to a subtle reading of the skin's
structure and paneling, giving the building an industrial
aesthetic that strikes a chord with its context on this mythically,
yet slowly gentrifying, gritty street. Like the layer of mesh
over metal panel that creates a third, visible layer of shadows
(outside and inside), as one
moves closer to and within the building one discovers these
and other layers of the design.
The seventh floor observation terrace could be described as
the apex of this, where one is up
close and personal with the mesh, seeing how it is constructed
from sheets of aluminum cut, pulled apart and twisted to create
a veil for the boxes, much like fashion designers create veils
for the human body. |
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SANAA's design can be interpreted
as taking the "white boxes" preferred by many artists
to its extreme: making the interior such but also expressing
this result on the outside via the stacking and offset of
the floors. Certainly this concept relates to New York's well-known
zoning envelope, and some push the concept to the bento boxes
of the duo's home country, but the expression of a relationship
to art is perhaps the most appropriate conclusion to draw.
This isn't to say that surprises don't exist outside the minimal,
skylit galleries. A slender,
two-story stair on the north
side makes the strongest impact, giving visitors a glimpse
of the city via a small window at the halfway point (opposite
a niche that will most likely become a prized space for site-specific
art). |
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Another testament to the skill of
the architects is the ground floor
lobby, a large space deepened by a full-height, mullionless
glass wall enclosing a gallery at the rear. This space allows
one to see the art on display in the distance, as if it's calling
one into the building. This glass wall reflects the ceiling
grid of mesh and fluorescent lights to further give a sense
of deep space, while also reflecting the Bowery streetscape
in a visual synthesis of art and city. Granted that the same
minimal construction and expression is present in the gallery
spaces upstairs, here the meaning is rich and layered, rather
than neutral or background. In a sense the building is a mix
of these characteristics, giving artists numerous white boxes
for the display of their art, and providing visitors a rich
experience as they move through the building's subtle layers. |
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Click
on images below for larger views.
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