Graham Baba Architects designs Seattle gallery for glass artist Lino Tagliapietra
Graham Baba Architects has designed a showroom for Murano-born glass artist Lino Tagliapietra in Seattle. Working with an existing single-storey warehouse building in the downtown neighbourhood of Belltown, the architects created a clean canvas for exhibition, installation, events and business.
The masonry and heavy timber warehouse, originally built in 1917, was previously an auction house, that Graham Baba architects have adapted and upgraded into a ‘space worthy of the art it contains’.
Challenged by Tagliapietra to create a ‘clean, modern, and simple’ backdrop for his textural and colourful glass pieces, the architects painted the exposed brick on the interior a matte grey and re-lay the floors with subtly bleached oak.
‘They wanted a dramatic approach to bringing in more daylight while increasing the height and spatial volume to feature custom-hanging installations of Lino’s pieces,’ says Jim Graham, principal-in-charge and Leann Crist, project architect of Graham Baba architects of Tagliapietra and his family’s brief.
The Graham Baba team therefore routed mechanical and electrical systems above the existing roof deck to ensure clean lines and above the space, a designed a curved light monitor to shape the light being brought into the space.
Cutting a hole in the wood laminated roof deck between the major beam lines, allowed light from the glazing in the façade to reach between the roof deck and new panel roof. ‘The structural components are hidden from view by the translucent glass and a subtle curving drywall ceiling,’ say the architects: ‘The effect is an ethereal glow that floats above the space and fills room with daylight. In the evenings, the light monitor is lit from below to provide dramatic indirect light. At all times of day, the hanging glass pieces are the focal point of the space.’
Surrounding the exhibition space are offices and meeting rooms that the architects were careful to always connect to the creative activity of Tagliapietra. ‘We focused all of the support spaces around the exhibition space with very transparent connections to the glass art,’ say the architects. ‘This allows clear sight lines throughout the main floor for both the users and the guests. The activities in the office and the conference room are all about Lino’s art.’
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Graham Baba architects website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West
‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Intimacy, violence and the uncanny: Joanna Piotrowska in Philadelphia
Artist and photographer Joanna Piotrowska stages surreal scenes at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania
By Hannah Silver Published
-
First look: Sphere’s new exterior artwork draws on a need for human connection
Wallpaper* talks to Tom Hingston about his latest large-scale project – designing for the Exosphere
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Marc Hom reframes traditional portraiture in Cooperstown, NY
‘Marc Hom: Re-Framed’ has taken over the grounds of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, planting Samuel L Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow and more ‘personalities of the world’ into the landscape
By Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou Published
-
Alexander May, founder of LA studio Sized, on the joys of creative polymathy
Creative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
By Hannah Silver Published
-
50 of America’s top creatives, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh
Photographed exclusively for Wallpaper* by Inez & Vinoodh, we present a portfolio of 50 creatives driving the current discourse on American culture and its dynamic evolution
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Nona Faustine confronts the past in New York
Artist Nona Faustine reframes New York's colonial past in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
By Hannah Silver Published
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy culture
In his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
By Tracy Kawalik Published