The project is an experiment challenging concepts of ‘the observer’ versus ‘the observed’.
The design conveys the ideas for redesigning the site as an innovative and thought-provoking space for artists.
The proposal wraps the silo in a ring of cellular studio spaces, using the geometry of the silo to establish complex relationships among artists, artworks, and visitors.
Large apertures in the exterior wall place artists on display to sidewalk viewers; and artists, meanwhile, can observe the city in full view. Through smaller and more intimate oblique openings within the inner wall, there is a reversal in perspective, as those visitors of the exhibition space inside the silo are placed on display to the artist.
Entry and threshold are defining for this project. One arrives at the silo from below, via a descending ramp which cuts through the water of the flooded site. He leaves the city behind him as he makes his way through an underground tunnel – a moment of spatial compression – and ascends a circular staircase to emerge into a completely new environment. The interior space of the silo is open to the sky, and the treatment of the inner circular wall, with its constellation of apertures, contrasts with the structure as it is seen from the outside.
