Forget Apple’s sleek new headquarters in Cupertino — if any building might represent the iPhone in architectural form, this is it.
Today sees the opening of the new contemporary art wing of the Corning Museum of Glass. The client for this major civic project in upstate New York, Corning Inc., produces Gorilla Glass, used for Apple’s smart phones and tablets around the world. Accordingly, American architect Thomas Phifer has channeled the aesthetics of the company’s most famous client to great effect: This is a shimmering white box of tricks that would make Steve Jobs proud.
© Iwan Baan
The snow-white extension is the largest museum space dedicated to the display and creation of contemporary art in glass in the world. It includes 26,000 square feet of exhibition space across five separate galleries, and a 500-seat auditorium dedicated to live glassblowing demonstrations.
The building was commissioned to display diverse works created over the last 25 years, and will be thematically curated to include large-scale sculptures, installations, glass “paintings,” and vessels. The permanent collection will include pieces by artists famous for their experimental work with glass, including Dale Chihuly, Roni Horn, Karen LaMonte, Josiah McElheny, Beth Lipman, Liza Lou, and Klaus Moje.
© Iwan Baan
When establishing the crucial factors that would influence his design for the new museum wing, Phifer compared conventional gallery spaces used to exhibit modern art with those dedicated specifically to the display of glass sculptures. He encountered a key difference pertaining to the issue of light: typically, galleries must incorporate controlled lighting conditions in order to protect art made of sensitive materials, such as fragile fabrics and paint.
© Iwan Baan
On the contrary, when viewing glass art, large amounts of natural light can enhance the public’s experience — as long as it is delivered into the space in the appropriate manner. Phifer explains:
“Horizontal illumination puts the glass in silhouette and limits the patron’s understanding of the form of the work itself; however, light from above does the opposite. It honors the material so that the more light the object absorbs, the more it reveals the form, depth, and richness of the glass.”
© Iwan Baan
These unique material qualities influenced the design of the entire wing, with the building conceived as a top-lit “vitrine” that allows the sparkling, translucent artworks to take center stage. Enormous concrete beams — four feet tall, 3.5 inches thick — span the walls of the galleries, supporting vast skylights above. They also act as gigantic louvers, diffusing the light to provide the optimal conditions for displaying glass in the spaces below.
© Iwan Baan
Since the majority of glass art is designed to stand on the floor or on podiums, the architect was able to utilize undulating partitions, create flowing spaces that created subtle variations in light and shade across the interior. “Inspired by the image of walking into a white cloud,” Phifer said, “We designed a collection of spaces defined by soft curving walls that dissolve the separation between the art, atmosphere, light and space.”
© Iwan Baan
Besides the main galleries, the auditorium — known as “The Amphitheater Hot Shop” — is perhaps the most intriguing addition to the museum. Set inside the renovated Steuben Glass factory building, the new hot shop features a balcony running around its perimeter, offering visitors a 360-degree view of the glassmaking demonstrations.
This workshop-cum-arena allows the public to watch on as well-known glass artists create their works. The first two to work within the space will be American sculptor Albert Paley and Swedish artist and designer Bertil Vallien.
Outside, the gleaming, milky-white building contrasts stunningly with the obsidian silhouette of the adjacent museum structure. Visually, Phifer’s design is indeed reminiscent of many products conjured up by Apple over the years — but unlike the iPhone, there should be little debate over whether the new museum wing’s functionality matches up to its gorgeous good-looks.
The building is a beautifully crafted piece of modernism, a star in its own right while remaining — crucially — a subtle backdrop upon which the museum exhibits can take center stage.
Yours reflectively,