SHoP Architects design an ambitious contemporary art facility in Santa Fe

Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Thank you for signing up to Wallpaper. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
There comes a time in many young art institutions’ lives when they have to grow up; elevating from daring upstart to established institution. Such was the case with SITE Santa Fe, an inventive Kunsthalle located in a boxy former beer warehouse in Santa Fe’s Railyard district. SITE, which recently turned 20, had over the years hired renowned architects like Greg Lynn, Graft, Todd Williams and Billie Tsien to enact temporary changes, but it needed something permanent and ambitious. ‘We were dreaming of something much more,’ explains SITE director and chief curator Irene Hofmann.
Earlier this month SITE celebrated the results of that undertaking – a reimagined facility designed by New York-based SHoP Architects. The museum now boasts about 14,000 new sq ft of (well-organised) space, much-needed technical improvements, and a dramatic new entryway.
That extended entrance, which the architects call the ‘prow’ because of how it juts sharply out toward the street, is a layered, folded, and perforated aluminium beacon that simultaneously pulls people in, defines a new outdoor plaza and frames the sky. It changes dramatically as light around it shifts, both day and night.
The building’s ‘prow’ defines the new outdoor plaza, framing the sky.
Its digitally-modeled creation, says SHoP principal Christopher Sharples, was inspired by the corrugated aluminum sides of boxcars in the nearby railyard, and by the triangular shapes prevalent in the city’s indigenous designs. Beyond the new beacon, a glass curtain wall exposes and draws people into SITE’s expanded, wide open new lobby, which flows freely into a gift shop and café. ‘We were taking the closed, opaque spaces and opening them up to the city,’ explains Sharples, who likened the complex, budget-challenged project to open heart surgery.
Galleries, in many ways familiar, have been slightly reconfigured with temporary walls. Around them are a new multi-purpose learning lab, a large, flexible auditorium, new offices, storage, a central courtyard and, above it, a sky terrace. All these spaces have been fitted with new lighting, electricity and (something SITE amazingly never had before) climate control; allowing them to stay open a much greater portion of the year and draw artists that couldn’t work in the previous conditions.
Happily the team preserved some of the old facility’s rough edges – like the concrete floors, marred in places from artist interventions, and the original stucco façade, albeit painted black, playing a sneaky supporting role. While much of the intervention is understated, it’s impossible to miss the jagged, brash prow, and its smaller sibling to the museum’s rear (which frames a smaller public space).
‘It’s scrappy, it’s got some attitude,’ says Sharples. Much like SITE. Whether the institution will maintain its jagged edges remains to be seen. But there’s no question about its elevated standing as one of the America’s homes of artistic innovation.
New improvements include around 14,000 sq ft of new space and much-needed technical improvements
SHoP’s Christopher Sharples took inspiration from the corrugated aluminium sides of boxcars in the nearby railyard, as well as triangular shapes prevalent in the city’s indigenous designs
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the SITE website and the SHoP architects website
ADDRESS
SITE
2606 Paseo De Peralta
Santa Fe NM 87501
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Behind the scenes at Aaron Esh’s runway debut, a capsule wardrobe for contemporary London
LVMH Prize finalist Aaron Esh presented a standout S/S 2024 collection at the Tate Modern yesterday. Here, he speaks to Wallpaper* about his vision for his burgeoning label
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
Essential men’s jewellery pieces putting a modern spin on tradition
Men’s jewellery gives traditional pieces a contemporary update
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Mini E-Bike 1, with Angell Mobility, is the carmaker’s first electric two-wheeler
The Mini E-Bike 1 opens up a new chapter for Mini, a collaboration that adds another mobility option to its freshly electrified range
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Ken Gun Min’s mixed-media montages reframe cultural influences and queer identity
South Korean-born, LA-based Ken Gun Min illusively combines painting, embroidery and illustration
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
Jack Pierson’s photographs and sculptures go on show in New York
Artist Jack Pierson draws on life experiences for a new show, ‘Pomegranates’, at Lisson Gallery, New York
By Hannah Silver Published
-
TikTok gets tangible: artist Devon Rodriguez opens his first exhibition, in New York
Devon Rodriguez, who until now has reserved his work for his 31 million TikTok followers, has opened his first exhibition at UTA Artist Space’s pop-up gallery in Chelsea, New York
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Man Ray’s sculptures go on show in New York
‘Man Ray: Other Objects’ opens at Luxembourg + Co, New York, revealing their author’s ‘artistic revolution’
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Kim Gordon on art and the iPhone, band dynamics, and her next step
American visual artist and musician Kim Gordon, formerly of Sonic Youth, discusses her recent show of paintings, creative collaboration and new ventures
By Mary Cleary Published
-
‘These Americans’: Will Vogt documents the USA’s rich at play
Will Vogt’s photo book ‘These Americans’ is a deep dive into a world of privilege and excess, spanning 1969 to 1996
By Sophie Gladstone Published
-
Kyle Bell's films are an expression of the indigenous experience in America
Kyle Bell, who was mentored by Spike Lee as part of Rolex's Mentors and the Protégés programme, is a self-taught video maker from Tulsa, Oklahoma
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Forrest Myers is off the wall at Catskill Art Space this summer
Forrest ‘Frosty’ Myers makes his mark at Catskill Art Space, NY, celebrating 50 years of his monumental Manhattan installation, The Wall
By Pei-Ru Keh Published