KARMA GALLERY

New York | 2024

KARMA GALLERY

Karma’s flagship New York location takes over the 10,000-square-foot ground floor of the old Otis Elevator Company Building in the West Chelsea Arts District. The space, previously a garage for Otis Elevator’s maintenance trucks, has been transformed into an expansive gallery featuring three large exhibition spaces.

The largest features a dramatic 55’ long skylight running the length of its eastern wall. Visible from the adjacent, square central gallery, visitors experience a gentle cascade of light from the east before the skylight becomes visible. This eastern alcove also offers a 20’ wall for the display of large works, and frosted, filmed glass ensures natural light in the galleries is soft and diffuse.

Offices, art storage, a pantry, and restrooms are located on the west and north sides of the ground floor, realizing a concept of multiuse spaces cradling the central gallery.  A new façade, featuring three bays of 12’ steel framed glass doors, invites visitors into the space. Built-in wood features add warmth to the spacious reception area, distinguishing the gallery foyer from its exhibition spaces. Lightweight concrete floors elevate and refine the space while maintaining the Chelsea Arts District’s characteristic industrial aesthetic. Exhibition spaces feature carefully scaled, outlined rectangles of light—recessed in the ceiling—echoing the gallery design, itself an expansive cube subdivided into voluminous, comfortably scaled rectangular prisms.

PHOTO CREDITS

Roland Halbe