Professor Kyle Miller
Individual Work
Spring 2022
Individual Work
Spring 2022
This project explores the relationship between above and below, the mass and the void. Through the use of glass and metal screening, there is a contrast between the transparency below and the heaviness above. The concept is emphasized with the use of a reflective cladding on the columns and a grated ramp in the void layer to create an increased ephemeral and temporal experience in the void. Ground lights extend out onto the sidewalk on the same grid as the interior, to blend interior and exterior, and to enforce the idea of transparency and to engage pedestrians.
Being on a prominent corner in downtown Syracuse, it’s important that these pedestrians would be enticed by the project and hanging art seen through the glass facade. Upon entering at the corner, they will walk up the winding ramp as they view the works of art. At the end of the ramp series, they can sit down in the auditorium to hear a lecture or presentation. At the top of the seating area, they can peek through the partition into the studio to see artists at work. For artists, they can take the elevator straight up to the studio, or walk through the gallery first. The studio has a variety of open spaces, collaboration rooms, and individual rooms. The archive is tucked underground, accessed by the elevator and the stairs, similar to the studio, is viewed from without, again revealing the relationship of the layers of the project above and below.
Because the gallery is a circulating ramp and terminates at a stair-auditorium, the paradigm of ramps and stairs as pure function for movement and circulation is questioned; they can also be used for creating sequence and program. Because of this secondary focus on circulation, at night when the interior is lit, transparent glass will reveal the upper stairs and frosted glass will fade out everything else.
