Pale plaster · Concrete · Glass
A retained brick shell frames a pale new entrance.
The rooflight provides the starting point for the gallery’s spatial arrangement. Light entering from above makes the centre of the building an active part of the experience, rather than relying only on openings at its perimeter. The design studies examine how the ceiling can gather and direct that light. Its geometry gives the rooms a distinct character while keeping the walls available for changing displays and different ways of looking.
The gallery is conceived as a sequence, not a single room revealed all at once. Openings suggest where to go next while allowing each space to feel complete. Changes in proportion create moments of compression and release without turning circulation into an obstacle. A visitor can move through at a steady pace or stop for longer, with the architecture providing orientation through the relationship between rooms rather than an excess of visual instruction.
North-light roof forms bring daylight into the gallery.
Pale plaster walls give the interior a calm background. The restrained finish does not remove the building’s identity; it places that identity in the proportions, edges and quality of light. The design avoids a fixed decorative treatment that would dictate the atmosphere of every exhibition. Wall surfaces, openings and the space around them are considered together, keeping enough visual clarity for a changing programme to establish its own presence.
Concrete provides a common ground through the gallery. Its more substantial character balances the lighter wall and ceiling surfaces, making the transition between rooms feel connected. Details are concentrated at the places where one plane meets another. A shadow at an edge or a carefully held opening can give definition without additional ornament. The material approach supports a legible interior in which small shifts in light become readily apparent.
Rough brick meets a precise concrete and bronze insertion.
A view back toward the courtyard extends the gallery sequence.
A gallery needs moments between encounters as much as places to display work. The proposal considers the pause at an opening, the view back through a room and the change in perspective on returning. These relationships give a compact sequence more depth without demanding a prescribed route. The lightwell remains a point of reference, connecting the experience to the sky while allowing attention to move between the architecture and whatever occupies it.