SculptureCenter is featured in this month’s issue of Architect magazine.
SculptureCenter is located in a former trolley repair shop in Long Island City and the new renovation was completed in October 2014. The project created a larger, more accessible facility including a new 2,000 square foot, one-story entrance lobby with bookshop, coatroom, seating area, and restrooms; an elevator and stairway to the lower level galleries; a 1,500 square foot enclosed courtyard for outdoor exhibitions and events; upgrades to electrical and mechanical systems; and office and storage space improvements.
The original RFP for an addition to the SculptureCenter in Long Island City, N.Y., was for a simple fire stair. But when local architect Andrew Berman, FAIA, examined the 1907 structure—which had become the institution’s home in 2001 following a renovation by Maya Lin—he found ways to modify the existing program, and building, to maximize use. Berman, who also worked on the entry building at nearby MoMA PS1, reconfigured the Center’s side lot entry into a more meaningful procession by closing it off from the street with a wall of Cor-Ten steel. “We didn’t change much of the work Maya had done, but we completely changed the feeling of the space and the circulation,” Berman says. “Spatial layering in the entrance sequence changes one’s perception of the space.” (Architect, March 2015)
Project: SculptureCenter Renovation & Expansion, Long Island City, N.Y.
Client: ScupltureCenter, Mary Ceruti (executive director and chief curator)
Architect: Andrew Berman Architect, New York—Andrew D. Berman, FAIA (principal and architect); Dan Misri, Vinci So (project architects)
Mechanical Engineer: AltieriSeborWieber
Structural Engineer: Gilsanz Murray Steficek
Geotechnical Engineer: RA Consultants
General Contractor: Adam Developers Enterprise
Size: 11,800 square feet
Cost: $4.5 million
