CULTURAL + PUBLIC SPACE
Julie Rico Gallery
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Size: 1,200 SF
Program: Art Gallery
Date: 1996
The Julie Rico Gallery is a project that confronts the boundary between the art gallery and urban community. Working on a very tight budget, LOHA took an existing storefront space and, through simple material means, called into question the conventional separation of the refined gallery interior from the outside street.
As opposed to building a minimal or solid gallery façade that communicates a clear parting of realms – the public urban space vs. the isolated cultural space – LOHA inserted a transparent and dynamic medium. Glass, deviating in form from the rectangular shapes typically associated with doors and windows, is inserted in slanted panes to form a large cross along the street-facing façade.
The tilted glass cuts into the gallery, breaking through the barrier that often rises at the storefront threshold. The angling also creates horizontal surfaces for seating along the sidewalk; the wall of the gallery becomes a socially programmed space at the edge of both public and private.
The interior of the gallery is kept simple. A polished concrete floor appears as an extension of the exterior ground plane. Looking outward, the glazing is framed by basic wooden studs; this unembellished exposure of structure resonates with the gallery’s built-up urban surroundings.
