Foster + Partners

Sperone Westwater Gallery

SPERONE WESTWATER GALLERY

Norman Foster, Foster + Partners

Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young

ARCHITECTS
Foster + Partners: Norman Foster, Foster + Partners

CLIENT
Sperone Westwater

LOCATION
257 Bowery, New York, USA

PHOTOGRAPHS
Nigel Young

 YEAR
2010

Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young

Text description provided by architect.

Nearly 35 years after its conception, Sperone Westwater continues to exhibit the work of prominent artists of diverse nationality and age, who work in various media.

The concept for the Gallery is both a response to the dynamic urban character of New York’s Bowery and a desire to rethink the way in which the public engages with art in the setting of a gallery.

The nine-storey building is part of a bold initiative to reinvigorate the neighborhood and the design will pioneer an innovative approach to vertical movement within a gallery building.

Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young
Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young
Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young

The centerpiece of the concept is a 12 x 20-foot moving room that connects the five floors where works of art will be displayed.

The room allows visitors to move gradually between levels and will be a prominent feature along the Bowery, visible from the street, its gentle pace contrasting with the fast-moving traffic.

At any given floor, the exhibition space can be extended by parking the moving room as required, by the use of an additional elevator and stairs which provide alternative access.

Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young
Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young

The design incorporates a mezzanine floor and double-height display area at street level, a sculpture terrace towards the park and a private viewing gallery at the top of the public floors.

A setback marks the location of the offices. Works of art will be stored primarily in the basement, while a library – that also functions as an events space – is located at the top of the building below the mechanical floor.

Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young
Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young

The CNC milled glass facade that houses the moving room act as a buffer zone, protecting the building from extreme temperatures and acoustically insulating the galleries.

‘The concept for Sperone Westwater represents both a response to the Bowery’s dynamic urban character and a desire to rethink the way in which we engage with art in the setting of a gallery.

Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young
Sperone Westwater Gallery
© Nigel Young

The moving gallery animates the exterior of the building and creates a bold vertical element within. Like a kinetic addition to the street, it is a lively symbol of the area’s reinvention and a daring response to the Sperone Westwater’s major program. I hope that artists will be inspired by the gallery’s new spatial and structural possibilities.’

You can see this project during construction at our "In Progress" section.


Sperone Westwater Gallery
Plan
Sperone Westwater Gallery
Section
Sperone Westwater Gallery
Skecth

Foster + Partners
T +44 20 77380455
Foster + Partners
Riverside, 22 Hester Rd, London SW11 4AN, United Kingdom