KASMIN GALLERY (509 W 27TH STREET)

New York | 2018

Kasmin Gallery has opened its fourth gallery in Chelsea - a new, main flagship space located along the High Line in the heart of New York’s gallery district. studioMDA has a long history of collaboration with Paul Kasmin Gallery, having designed two of its other gallery spaces, numerous exhibitions, and its art fair booths.

In designing this new space, studioMDA has created a purpose-built gallery that acts as a Kunsthalle for displaying and viewing art with, maximum spatial flexibility and daylight inside. On the one-story building’s roof is a new, greenscape that functions as a sculpture garden to be enjoyed by the city.

The main exhibition area, designed for the display of large-scale artworks, is a column-free, 3,000 square foot space with 22-foot-high walls and a polished concrete floor. The ceiling in this main space is a pattern of 28, trapezoidal board-formed concrete coffers, each of which houses a large skylight that provide diffused natural daylight into the art space. The ceiling grid of the super waffle structure establishes the rhythm of the skylights, but also allows maximum flexibility to subdivide the space in a variety of ways. In addition to the expansive exhibition space, the new gallery also houses private viewing rooms and offices.

The building is topped by a landscaped roof, which sits on the rigorous skylight grid. The design of the roof extends the visual plane of the High Line, creating a unique sculpture garden visible to the promenade’s six million annual visitors. The undulating form, designed by Future Green, provides soil depth for plants that will naturally change colors throughout the seasons. In between the plants, platforms are placed to host sculptures that rotate with the gallery’s program.

The facade has an angled form, which follows the shape of the skylights. Cast in white concrete with a wood texture, it contrasts the adjacent monolithic cast bronze facade of High Line Nine, a multi gallery building designed by studioMDA, also opening in October 2018. The large glass storefront, a distinctive feature that is consistent throughout all Paul Kasmin galleries designed by studioMDA, opens the gallery up to the public.

Photo Credits: Roland Halbe