Art Farms: 8 Galleries Building Culture Beyond the City

Does art only belong to the city? As populations move to urban environments at an exponential rate, rural towns are facing social and economic decline. Bound up with cultural changes, this migration profoundly shapes rural life. Architecture frames these conditions. Drawing inspiration from the surrounding site, architects capture views while opening people to new ideas and perspectives. Reinterpreting vernacular tradition, modern rural projects combine articulated detailing and craft with rigorously defined forms and spaces.

This collection of rural galleries explores how we gather, dwell and share. As statements and contradictions within the land, each design sets up intentional connections to art. Built for storage and viewing, they act as a lenses that encourage a better understanding of place. Realized across multiple continents and climates, the designs illustrate how to draw out new ideas on rural art and culture.

Cooroy Art Temple by JMA Architects, Sunshine Coast, Australia

Overlooking the landscape, the Cooroy Art Temple is sited on the edge of a mountain ridge as two distinct pavilions. Built with steel profile sheeting, a curved roof structure and retractable bi-fold fenestrations, the project provides an incredible context to view art.

Litchfield Private Gallery by Steven Learner Studio, Litchfield County, Conn., United States

Located in rural Litchfield County, this private project includes 14,000 square feet of art handling, storage and exhibition space. As a stone volume with two primary galleries, the design includes wood boxes clad in stained cedar as support spaces and viewing rooms.

Grace Farms by SANAA, New Canaan, Conn., United States

Grace Farms was established as a new cultural and community center around five programmatic ideas. Centering on a multipurpose building called the River, SANAA’s bucolic New Canaan project expands across the sloping site around open areas and interior spaces to gather and exhibit work.

Parrish Art Museum by Herzog & de Meuron, Water Mill, N.Y., United States

As a single gallery space designed to distill the studio’s proportions, the Parrish Art Museum includes two model galleries that form wings around a central circulation spine. Built with porches that extrude from the building form, the project was made with a cluster of 10 galleries along the East End of Long Island.

Museum of Outdoor Arts Element House by MOS Architects, N.M., United States

The Museum of Outdoor Arts Element House is a structural insulated panel (SIPS) modular building that functions as a guest house and visitor center for a nearby land art project. Designed to operate independently of public utilities, the museum integrates passive systems, on-site energy-generation and a decentralized field of solar chimney volumes.

Galleri Örsta by Claesson Koivisto Rune, Kumla, Sweden

Galleri Örsta was designed as a ‘hamlet’ around existing residences. Located atop an artificial hill, the project features a series of curves at the roofline and base, as well as a façade made with reflective glass beads.

Remisenpavillon by Wirth Architekten, Affinghausen, Germany

Complementing an old farm in Lower Saxony, this pavilion reinterprets traditional building scales and materials. Depending on the season, the space is used for firewood, paring, agriculture and as a garden gallery loggia for receptions.

Artfarm by Ai Weiwei/FAKE Design and HHF Architects, Salt Point, N.Y., United States

Sited in upstate New York, Artfarm is divided into multiple exhibitions spaces of varying sizes with areas for storing artwork. Designed with the prefabricated galvanized iron sheets that form three corrugated iron huts, the project becomes its own piece among the landscape.