Artfarm

Production : New York

Design : HHF Architects + Ai Wei Wei

Description :

Swiss architecture firm HHF Architects collaborated with chinese artist Ai Weiwei to design a showroom and storage space for a Chinese contemporary art collector.The architects teamed up with Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei to design a showroom and art-storage space-and to tuck the structure into the landscape of his Upstate New York property ‘in a way that could be seen as sculpture itself’, says project lead and HHF partner Simon Frommenwiler.Basing the three-building structure on corrugated steel sheets ordinarily used for agricultural sheds and garages, HHF created a long narrow gallery that sits easily and unselfconsciously among a number of large-scale sculptures spread over the property. Although only one window is situated at the end of the ramp in each building, cool white and concrete surfaces keep the interior bright. The designers’ most artful touch, however, was to turn the ceiling inside out, concealing it under glossy white PVC insulation batting. Anchoring the batting at regular intervals with long nails, builders gave the ceiling a surreal, button-tufted appearance with the sheen of a NASA spacesuit. ‘”We liked the idea of a metallic, hard material on the outside and a bright, soft, reflective interior,” says Frommenwiler. “Of course, we hoped that this low-cost way of putting up a ceiling cover would turn out to look interesting.” Indeed, it did.

Link : www.hhf.ch