Fine Arts Gallery: The Fine Arts Gallery project was designed
for the 50th year anniversary of the University of Arkansas, Fine Arts Department
in Fayetteville. The project was especially significant given the fact that
the Fine Arts Building was designed and built by Edward Durrell Stone, a canonic
modern American architect. The assignment was to build a series of wall panels
and design exhibition elements that would organize the art show and also re-organize
the landscape in front of the gallery. Our concept was developed around the
sculptures of Alexander Calder which were a primary part of the gallery collection.
A matrix of folded panels was generated from the analysis and projection of
a Calder piece on to the gallery floor as a diagrammatic plan. This matrix
then were given multiple functions of separating gallery space for different
zones of exhibition while allowing for free circulation and connecting the
gallery space with the garden space by visual penetration of folded panels
through the fenestration of the gallery. The created visual impact was both
shocking and sensational. It created extraordinary publicity for the gallery
as well as providing an aesthetic environment for the gallery viewers.
