Ota Fine Arts Gallery in Shanghai, China by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Article source: B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio 

OTA FINE ARTS gallery is located in Shanghai West Bund Culture & Art Pilot Zone, it is the first time settled in China, which is also the third gallery following the gallery of Tokyo and Singapore. 2017 is the 23rd year since the OTA FINE ARTS was founded. As the founder, Hidenori Ota is the most important promoter of Japan’s contemporary national treasure artist Kusama Yayoi. He hopes to continue to provide the platform to more Asian cutting-edge artists and expands the new direction of the Asian contemporary art.

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

• Architects: B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio (Shuhei Aoyama, Yoko Fujii, Yujia Yang)
• Project: Ota Fine Arts Gallery
• Location: West Bund Culture & Art Pilot Zone, Shanghai, China
• Photography: Eiichi Kano
  
• Client: OTA FINE ARTS
  
• Site Area: 286.53 m2
  
• Building Area: 242.56 m2
  
• Design Period: 02.2017-07.2017
  
• Construction Period: 07.2017-11.2017
  

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

The base was a three-bay old bungalow. We chose to dismantle it and hope to build a brand-new and pure building which be full of new design language.

We imagine the six main functional areas required by the gallery as six unit boxes?due to considering the rectangular shape of the site and the require by the owner to maximize the use of the area. We use the rectangular box form to display and the most basic unit to maximize the space? Through a lot of block study, we have reached a balance of architectural form and function. Finally, there are four pure big blocks made up of six unit boxes.

For material of the building, we want to use the traditional elements of Shanghai to show it. From gray brick of Shanghai traditional Shikumen to the red brick of old villa in colonial period of France, the brick seems to be the typical symbol in Shanghai building. We chose the brick as texture, but we abstract its color into white. This not only shows the characteristics of the city of Shanghai, but also syncretize with the many white buildings in the modern art area of the West Bund.

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

The main entrance to the building is located on the western side, there is no window in the western side, in this way, the wall of the exhibition space is more effectively used, the western wall of the building combines with two buildings around the building to make a courtyard space, which makes the main entrance space more sense of aggregation.The eastern side of the building faces the office entrance of the West Bund staff and it is also the main facade of the gallery. We use different sized windows to create a dialogue between the interior of the building and the outdoor space.

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Four functional blocks, such as office, VIP room, artist bedroom and storage, are arranged to form two building blocks on the north side.We arranged the two exhibition halls in series on the south part of the building so as to make the audience feel more continuous in the exhibition. In the top of the southmost exhibition space, there was a skylight it can lead to soft natural light.The sun is diffused on the wall, creating a sense of the sacred in the high exhibition space. The electric curtains of skylight are installed to control the sunlight, which satisfies the display requirements of different works of art.

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

The entrance is a 4-meter-high vibration stainless steel automatic sliding door, visually weakening the huge sense of weight, to achieve a visual balance of proportions. The Electric induction device of the sliding door make the door easy to be used. And people can feel a sense of ritual by the design of high entrance space. Office in the limited space is made a targeted detail design. The desk and the kitchen table are designed for continuous on the plan but at different heights at the vertical.In order to transport the large paintings, a 150mm wide gap was set up on right side of the staircase.Painting can be moved into the gap, and then it is moved vertically to the second floor.Other secondary spaces have a large area of windows, breaking through the characteristics of conventional galleries for the most enclosed space. Maximize the area of window without affecting the function of the exhibition, so that people can feel the natural communication with the outdoors and the space has more intimacy and comfort.

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

the entire interior space is made up of low-saturation solidcolor wall paint, concrete floor, wood floor and wood-colored custom furniture , giving a simple, pure and serene feel to space. For the landscape, the original landscape is simplified to the cleanest form of expression, we hope that people focus on the purity of the building itself.

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © Eiichi Kano

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Image Courtesy © B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

Tags: China, Shanghai

Category: Art Gallery

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