FLOATING WORLD GALLERY
Chicago, Illinois

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The project, a gallery for Japanese
contemporary art, is located in Chicago’s
Lincoln Park neighborhood. The challenge
was to create a quiet space to view artwork
amidst a bustling urban area. The owners
requested that the gallery be on the second
level of the existing 1920’s structure to allow
for a commercial tenant on the ground floor.
Only three of the existing exterior walls were
retained. The building’s new front facade is a
minimal plane of natural cleft slate.
A garden path along the south side begins the
entry sequence to the gallery. Upon arrival,
the all bamboo stair “capsule” transports
the participant into the cerebral world of
the gallery, and symbolizes the idea of the
“floating world”.
Upon completion of the second floor, the
owners decided to create another gallery on
the ground floor. A new challenge arose –
how to provide two galleries and differentiate
them – one public, more experimental gallery
for the neighborhood and a private gallery for
the cognoscenti.