Client: Smithsonian American Art Museum
Type: Invited Competition (Cultural)
Size / Date: 7,000 square feet / 2013
The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery has long been an essential steward of the cultural history of American craft. The invited competition for the Renwick Gallery prompted an awareness of the museum’s rich history while creating a vision for its 21st-century future. This future was envisioned as one in which the boundary between the city and the museum would be diminished. “Ellipsis” would reorient the Renwick Gallery as a contemporary and engaging space while activating the historic structure.
The spaces from the front door to the Grand Salon were designed as a sequence in which contemporary insertions dovetail into traditional spaces. In the main stairs, a single plane of polished stainless steel reflects and multiplies public activities below. The surface would allow visitors a reflected view into the new Grand Salon at the same time it produces reflections from the galleries. “Ellipsis” re-imagined the Grand Salon as an engaging public space within the city, encouraging visitors to rest, contemplate or reconvene.
Inside the Grand Salon, two elliptical voids would form a new ceiling while framing a light emitting surface. Lightweight ceramic panels would frame the voids, and each void rotates the panels on their edges to allow for screened views of the historic structure beyond. The panels would be geometrically torqued, accentuating Ellipsis’ dynamic form. The digitally-produced, hollow ceramic panels would be fabricated by combining computer numeric controlled milling with traditional ceramic slip-forming techniques.
External Links:
Smithsonian American Art Museum Announces Major Renovation of its Renwick Gallery (ArtDaily)
LED Skylight Authentically Recreates the Sun’s Rays (Discover)
Smithsonian American Art Museum: Museum History
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The light emitting surface of “Ellipsis” would subtly change color throughout the day to reflect the hues of the natural light outside. In the morning, a warm hue emanates from the edges of the surface. At noon in the summer the tone is bright and even, turning a cool indigo hue at dusk. The changes are not abrupt or absolute: they are almost undetectable, causing a gradual difference in reflections on the ceramic panels. Within the re-envisioned public space, “Ellipsis” fosters new atmospheres and experiences on each visit to the Renwick Gallery.
Project Team: Phu Hoang, Rachely Rotem, Amanda Morgan, Dorimar del Rio