Brooklyn-based design and fabrication shop Situ Studio’s transformation of the Brooklyn Museum’s Great Hall opens tomorrow, Friday, March 4. “reOrder: An Architectural Environment by Situ Studio" breaks away from the symmetry of the space – the designers wrapped all 16 classical columns in the room with folded and tapered canvas in parasol-like forms. They're lit from the inside with rectangular LEDs. The installation is part of a larger move to transform the Great Hall into a flexible gallery and a more social space. Ennead Architects built four free-standing walls there for future shows and Situ Studio riffs on the molding of the columns with curved seating (solid surfacing donated by LG).
It opens tomorrow, but get an extra energized look at the renovated hall on Saturday, at the museum's Target First Saturdays. Admission is free and Martha Redbone performs 5-7 p.m.
When I visited a couple weeks ago, a team of about 16 were working hard to finish the project. Wes Rozen, one of Situ Studio's five founding partners (they met at Cooper Union and started the firm in 2005), showed me how the 60-inch-wide rolls of white fabric, donated by Sunbrella, attach to plywood rings that clamp onto the columns in the hall. When the installation closes next January, all the fabric will be rolled up and recycled.
This is the largest architectural project Situ Studio has completed to date. "We've poured our hearts into it," Wes said of the museum project. Don't miss it - and tell us what you think of the museum's new hub.
With Nathan Levine-Heaney and Jeffrey Blair, Situ tracked the installation of "reOrder: An Architectural Environment," taking a photograph every two minutes over three weeks.
