CIRCA GALLERY ARTS+ CULTURE

Project Description

A contemporary extension to the existing Everard Read Gallery on an adjacent vacant site utilised for parking. The site is bordered by two main roads in Rosebank, Johannesburg with a narrow width, made more difficult with large building lines along the main roads. The brief called for 2 gallery spaces, one small and one large for different exhibition needs as well as roof top lounge and deck for entertainment with prep kitchen and amenities for visitors.

The site shape restricted building planning to a narrow linear plan however rather than generate a full bulk proposal, the concept to see the building itself as an architectural sculpture resulted in an elliptical plan design with a perimeter ramped access around a central core of gallery space. A permeable facade wrapping the building of extruded aluminium fins gives visual sight of the street and surrounding activity whilst allowing sound attenuation within the galleries.

The building curvature assisted to allow light into the shaded southern area, bordered by a neighbouring 3 storey structure along the south boundary and creating an internal semi-private gathering space. By lifting the private spaces vertically, the ground floor is returned to the public realm as an urban zone, accessible to all and importantly allowing the outdoor space to act as a bridge to the original gallery, participating as a defining space in the overall gallery layout and master plan.

Methodology

The colouring of the vertical aluminium fins was workshopped extensively. Many iterations of colour and shading variation were created but all lacked the true randomness as can be found in nature. The solution was to utilise aerial photographs of landscapes, extract single pixel width slices across the images and in Photoshop, colourise and interpolate the extruded pixel strip to the baseline anodising colours that could be achieved in fabrication. This process generated far more random shade variation that when applied on the fin sequence, could be mapped back into the 3D visualisations for assessment and presentation to client.

Development Data

Site Area: 1253m²

Building Area: 377m²

Site Dims: 40.770m x 15.120m

Height: 3 Storeys

Coverage: 267m

Building Lines: 5m along west, 3m along north

Project Value: R16 million $1.9 million

Project Role

Concept and sketch design development, 3D visualisation, client presentation, construction and finishing detailing.

ROOF PLAN

Construction

The facade fin design was workshopped with the aluminium contractor and a custom die made for this project. Over 4km of extrusion in total was made with a total of 432 fins wrapping the perimeter of the building. Seven colour shades of anodising, based on time in the bath, was designated and mapped to each fin individually.

Within the main gallery space, a series of lift-able partitions were designed to permit reconfiguration of the space depending on requirements. In the lowered position, the steel framed partitions formed the walls in the lower gallery. Once raised, the partitions could be rotated on a central axis to provide additional wall hanging space or spatial configuration as needed.

A raised deck on the second level permitted roof top services to move across the structure and serve the gallery spaces below without visibility as well as hide all rooftop drainage inlets. The requirement for a roof level fire escape was a design element that took time to resolve, as the impact on the skin of the building needed to be unnoticeable. Attaching the stair around the perimeter was rejected after several iterations and the solution to separate the stair and the building was taken, wrapping the stair inside a mesh cage that was to be grown with plants. This not only hid the stair from general sight but created a singular, neutral backdrop against which the building

Sections

Elevations

form could sit.

Functionally, the connecting bridge became the perfect position to install a gantry to lift larger artworks up to the main gallery through the external facade doors.

A large pond at the end of the ground floor space looked over the adjacent main road and provided a secure edge due to the raised height relative to street level. With a singular main entrance gate thus, the entire building area can be closed off to the street without visual interference from fencing and boundary walls. It is an excellent example of how spatial gradation, privacy and security can all be managed through verticality.

Circa received a SAIA Award of Excellence in 2012.

2019-2020 / ARCHITECTURE / COMMERCIAL