As the actual and metaphorical front door for the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts, it was important to design an entry that set the tone for the experience of the galleries beyond the small portal. The Graham Foundation supports innovative investigations into the built environment and public discourse surrounding spatial-social relations, so I developed a concept to physically manifest the values of the architectural institution and elevate social interactions within it.
Program requirements called for a structural steel staircase, which at first felt limiting but by the end of Design Development, had clearly pushed me into less familiar territory and successfully impacted the solution. I shaped the space with the previously unfamiliar material and matured the design with each sketch and spoken rationale for every decision. It was always about going back to the concept of clear relationships between the construction of the museum space and the values of the institution.
Domineering steel enhanced the material clarity of parts and complemented the truthfulness of selected materials like red Japanese lacquer, maple, and marble. Clean lines and proportional massing of the monolithic reception desk and extruded window frame cultured a delicate tension between primitive reduction and timeless modernism that lent itself to artistic clarity and contemplation.
Through sketches and floor plan iterations, massing studies, and furniture design tests, some insight into my design process and thinking became clearer. The result demonstrates an intent to create a multi-dimensional perspective as visitors experience the space, catching glimpses of the staircase and its projecting components, snapshots of natural light around the strategically-blocking reception desk, until the full effect of the staircase and its grand activity come fully into view.
Programmatic Direction:
- Design a small, 2-story entry space in the new home of the Graham Foundation;
- Steel staircase to connect first and second floors;
- Staircase should enhance the function of the space and be used to shape and define the experience of the space;
- Small reception desk needed;
- Spatial layout must allow for entry, orientation, smooth circulation, and casual gatherings of small groups;
- Staircase and room must meet all public Code requirements.