Sculptor and painter Philip Pavia and wife Natalie Edgar were abstract expressionists who lived and worked in East Hampton, the site for this gallery and artist residency design. My concept began with a 7-foot sculpture by Pavia, whose purist form created a sense of spatial gravity. It sparked my study of how art is perceived from multiple viewpoints and how landscape and elevation can augment that experience.
I drew inspiration from vernacular architecture, specifically the Longhouse typology, where life and creation coexist under one roof. Though the gallery and residences are distinct, they share a conceptual unity. The orientation of the gallery echoes the art barn, while its width matches the house. The artist residences follow the house’s axis but take the width of the barn. Their lengths reflect subtle geometric alignments between the original buildings, hidden cues that bind life and art.
Light is treated as a spatial instrument. In the gallery, high skylights wash walls and sculptures with diffuse daylight, inviting slow observation. In the studios, shallower skylights bring in direct, focused light: clarifying space, material, and mood. These shifts in light reflect the duality of display and creation, contemplation and production.
