Rendered Section

Rendered room showing the light quality

Vignettes

Sectional Architectonic Model

Section

'Our experience of an architectural space is strongly influenced by how we arrive in it.'

Matthew Frederick in '101 Things I Learned in Architecture School'

Upon entering the art gallery, the visitors will pass through a narrow ramp, where it curves and open up to the bright and sunny outdoor courtyard. Here, the view of the sky is unobstructed. Afterwards, they will descend up the stairs to a slightly higher level. Upon arrival, they will enter a display space where the light is soft and diffused. After admiring the artworks, they will encounter a second stair, which can take them both upwards and downwards. In order to attract them to go to a higher level, a skylight was positioned in a way where the light peeks through the stairs and this will attract the visitors to go up. On the higher level, they'll be greeted with a wide space with a sculptural skylight. Leaving the space, they will descend the stairs to the lowest ground, preparing them to leave the art gallery. At the lowest ground, another exhibition space with a lower ceiling and lit by artificial light will greet them. Finally, they are prepared to leave the art gallery, and in order to celebrate the end of their journey, a sculptural skylight is placed and is visible as they pass through the outdoor courtyard to go back into the city.

Floor Plans

My intention for this art gallery is to make it as honest and simple as possible. I want to be able to explain the concept using simple and clear terms. This means, I will need to know my concept and idea very well to be able to explain it to others. However, due to time constraint, I didn't manage to dig deeper into my concept, which is journey, celebration and the attraction of light.

Site Plan

Site Plan

Scale 1:500

Experimenting with spaces

I experimented with spatial sequence and orders, trying to find the best sequence that would enrich the journey throughout the gallery as much as possible. I made the blocks to scale and arranged them in different orders to have a general idea of what people will experience once they enter the gallery. At this stage I am not concerned with the form or shape of the gallery yet as I focused more on the main ideas of the gallery which are journey, celebration, spatial order,circulations and light.