Project Description
“Don’t screw it up”
– An old machine shop was found, off the beaten path, up against the tracks.
– A gallery owner asked us to look at it.
– Messed up façade. Tired, listing trusses, rotting roof/drain-heads, cracked/heaved slab over slab.
– But the span, the height, the monitor light was right. Finding the rear courtyard sealed the deal.
– We said to ourselves, “Don’t screw it up”
The Sequence:
– One space to receive
– One space to present/absorb/reflect
– One space to meander/tinker/discover
– One space, outdoors, to catch ones’ breath
The Work
Shell:
– Roof trusses were restored, reinforced and tensioned; purlins, structural decking replaced, sandblasted to expose the Douglas Fir.
– A central portal was opened, for vehicles and pedestrians alike (design problem: concealed security shutter, sectional truck bay door, accessible entry on property line, all in “one move”).
Within:
– A new concrete floor, ground, carefully rises, plateaus, rises.
– Atop this, a visually disengaged, “floating, inner liner” of flat white painted gypsum.
– Douglas Fir reception top and library shelves.
– Heights and widths and depths and lines are implicitly interrelated.
– New metals are brushed silver; structure, sash, mechanical, lighting, fans, trim.
– Two large rolling walls live in the main room, each the width of one portal. (These are initially mudded together, but will migrate over time.)
That’s it.
– Donald Judd said “art and architecture should always be symmetrical except for good reason”.
– Bill Turnbull said he wanted “my work to appear that of a farmer”, as if he was not there.
It’s harder than it looks.