Southpoint: Roosevelt Island | Competition

An arts center is a connection between artists, their work, and the public. This connection is an intimate moment where an artist can express what they “see” in this world, and where we too can experience their vision even if for a brief amount of time. An intimate moment is characterized as a point of freedom, clarity, and understanding. It is when we look beyond our preconceptions and “see” life as if through another’s eyes.

The way in which we “see” the world is unique based on our culture, environment, education, and experiences. Although our perceptions and expressions are unique, the art form is a universal language that facilitates communication across boundaries.

Our connection with art and its authors on Roosevelt Island is communicated by moving through a series of thresholds that progressively indicate an increase in intimacy. As we transition from the public nature of the city to the south point of the island, the noise created by the FDR highway is reduced to a hum. The stone wall, along the eastern edge of the island, further emphasizes our progression as we experience the sculpture garden, and the hum completely disappears.

The gallery is a transitional space that allows us to understand our relationship to the immediate environment. Our passage though the heavy bearing walls of the Smallpox Hospital not only connects us to the history of Roosevelt Island, but signifies that we are leaving the public environment and crossing a threshold into the private realm. This threshold is not just defined by the perimeter walls of the former hospital, but by a light screen wall representing the artist’s personal space beyond. The screen wall is our connection to the artist as we first perceive their work in the gallery. However, it is not until we observe the artists in their studios that we can truly understand the intimate connection an artist can have with his work. It is only at this moment that we too may “see” what they “see.”