BDES1020 Continuous City <Ah Ra Lee>

Abstract

The function of the building is a contemporary art gallery. It holds exhibitions of a wide range of artist as well as temporary exhibitions. I have chosen the programme of the building as a contemporary art gallery because famous world-wide as one of Italy’s most beautiful art cities, Venice’s image is strongly bound up with the treasures of antique art. But in recent years the city has seen the arrival of numerous new exhibition spaces for contemporary art: museums, art galleries, temporary exhibitions and private collections. My idea was to have large glass facade for public spaces facing canal taking advantage of the views and natural lightings. Therefore it is spacious, open and inviting and enables easy access to the gallery. It also enhances the visual connections between the canal and the gallery’s interior, thus optimising the relationship between the building and cultural part of Venice. Other than the glass facade, other sides of the building are enclosed for not letting natural lights coming in to the gallery spaces. The ground floor contains a lobby, cafe, shop and upper floors are all gallery spaces. There are two entries on the north side and the east side. The circulation is simple through the stairs and around the void. The gallery spaces are kept neutral to allow flexible exhibitions to be mounted. The galleries themselves are quiet, contemplative spaces with poured concrete floors. The exterior is covered in a simple stainless-steel panel. I made dynamic sculptural shape of the exterior of the building because the building is a contemporary art gallery, modern and I wanted to make it stands out from the context of the area rather than having vernacular design. The pattern in the glass facade was intended to keep the form of the skin of the building and the reflection on the canal.