LOT-EK was
commissioned to design an art studio space for the Whitney Museum of American
Art. The Whitney Studio is located in the Sculpture Court of the museum’s Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue. The Studio houses activities for the Whitney
Museum’s education program, including art-making classes for adults, teens and
families, informal lectures and special exhibits.
The building
employs 6 steel shipping containers stacked on two levels to form a monolithic
cube, designed to fit the Whitney Museum’s open moat on the south side of the entry
bridge. The stack is sheared by a diagonal plane to generate
a continuous cut that runs along two sides and the roof of the assembly; the
Boolean plane also carves the inside of the stack, to produce a double height
space and a triangular mezzanine. The diagonal
and continuous band of fenestration that runs along the sides and roof provides
natural light to the building and offers a glimpse of the studio’s activities
to museum visitors. Inside, the studio
offers a white double height space for the production and display of art work,
with the triangular mezzanine functioning as the area for art supplies and
computer stations.