MERIT AWARD
POSTER HOUSE NEW YORK, NY
ESIGN
LTL ARCHITECTS
“Materiality is strong. The split and the
Photo Credit: ©Michael Moran
The first museum in the United States dedicated to posters, Poster House responds to the unique qualities of the institution and the urban conditions of its site. The site comprises a through block street level space and cellar extending from 23rd to 24th Street. The design creates a vibrant public space that links the two streets, acting as an extension of the city and reflecting that the poster’s natural habitat is the urban realm itself. Museum quality galleries acknowledge the poster as a significant artifact. Exhibition areas are self-contained to provide for environmental control. The design is a negotiation between two contrasting types of space: an enclosed gallery volume and an open public promenade. The formal galleries are nested within the existing building shell, while the public zone takes advantage of the cast iron columns, barrel vaults and exposed brick walls. The design splits the space in two along a single graphic line: the galleries
to the east and the public passage to the west inflecting the division diagonally through the space. This maximizes space for the main gallery to the north and opens up the public zone to the south, optimizing interface with the street. The 185-foot long diagonal wall in tones of clay plaster articulated by blackened steel strips, divides the space programmatically while linking the 23rd and 24th street sides. Upon entry, the visitor experiences a continuous promenade activated by a single cabinetry element that accommodates the gift shop, reception and café as well as linking to the lower level programs. The gallery volume houses both the main exhibition space and a secondary space for temporary installations. A pivoting wall allows the main gallery to be joined to the smaller gallery to create a single space. The masonry light well is wrapped in a curtain of backlit glass becoming an illuminated beacon. Juxtaposing a dynamic urban passage with sophisticated gallery spaces, the design for Poster House seeks to combine the old and the new, the rustic and the refined, the playful and the somewhat serious into a layered but still unified architectural experience.
handling of the column capital is strong.” Jury Comment
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