Canada / Unbuilt Canada / Quebec / AIED
studio air d'été
participant / competitor
Montréal,Québec
Approche architecturale
The 130 Bishop Allen building is located at an urban horizontal intersection within the city grid. The space occupied by the Art Interactive gallery is both a vertical intersection within this larger building as much as an insertion into the streetscape. From this derives two issues of concern, based on function and spatial positioning. The foremost issue is establishing clarity and guidance towards access to the gallery. However, the backdrop of this concern for circulation is perhaps the most intriguing paradox of the gallery. It is seemingly contradictory that a space that requires a tightly controlled environment seeks to engage into an open dialogue of exchange with the street. The proposed design emerges from the insertion of a space separating / uniting the street and the gallery. By building a volume on the interior side of the glazed facades, an interstitial space is created. This space provides a stage for interaction between the art and the street. In addition, exteriorly oriented gestures work together in order to establish, attract and inform. The design interventions are composed of the following elements:
The Boxes
5 modular units on wheels placed in front of the lower series of double windows offer a volume to be used by the gallery and/or the artists to enter into a dialogue with the street, while controlling the lighting factors. Placed within the internal gallery space, these may serve as backdrops, furniture or plasma screen supports during exhibits or receptions.
The Red Film
On the 3 lower single windows, an opaque red film covers the glass, and prevents light infiltration while announcing pertinent information such as opening hours. These 3 red windows unify the perception of the gallery and establish its location as benchmarks.
The Light Box
In opposition to the 5 interior intrusions, the Light Box is an exterior extrusion that reaches towards the street to announce the entrance. It is a Plexiglas box, coated with red film within which is installed a neon light fixture and on which are placed the gallery's logo and the doorbell. It is built as an extension of the freestanding brick wall adjacent to the main entrance.
The Logo.
On the series of upper windows, is placed a white opaque film depicting the gallery's logo and preventing light infiltration. The permanent positioning of the logo lies above the dynamic flow of the street, the interior boxes and the exhibition space.
The Auxiliaries Secondary interventions include the painting in white of the fire exit door and the removal of the exterior handle. In addition is the relocation to the main entrance of the bushes that presently frame the fire exit, to maintain the neutral nature of the landscape.
The exterior / interior design of the Art Interactive gallery seeks not to compete with the building. Instead it attempts to highlight certain architectural elements and insert / exert volumes, ranging from flat to three-dimensional, in order to promote a human-scale dialogue between the gallery and its context, as the backdrop for the interaction between art
and the public.
Crédits
studio air d'été
(Rami Bebawi, Dany Hasswani et Tudor Radulescu)
