The Allouche Gallery opened its doors on Spring Street in 2014. With the success that came from garnering a reputation for exhibiting artists whose work directly challenges notions of contemporary visual arts, the gallery eventually moved to the Meatpacking District. When director Eric Allouche concluded that it was time to return to SoHo, he decided to renovate a lofty former retail space at 77 Mercer Street, just a block away from its original location.
In designing the new art space, FORRM used the existing skylight at the back of the space together with a service core and large-format storage closet to organize the gallery into zones that were visually connected and ideal for displaying large format artwork in varying types of light. Also included was a downstairs private viewing room, offices for support staff, and a large studio where the gallery hosts a quarterly residency program, providing chosen artists free space to work right in the heart of SoHo.