Nineteen years after opening their first exhibition space, in New York City on Broadway along the edge of Tribeca, Canada gallery relocated their most recent Lower Eastside operation to 60 Lispenard Street. The new gallery address in Tribeca is integral to a renewed Soho/Tribeca gallery scene.

Canada Gallery presents a dignified context for art, but with a humane interface for the audience. In response to this ethos the design of the Lispenard space creates generous spaces for viewing and working with art. The gallery operates on the ground floor and in the basement of a landmarked industrial building converted to rent-controlled loft apartments in the 1970s. On the sidewalk level, the sequence of the program starts with the gallery office at the cast iron store front. Layered beyond the office, the exhibition spaces increase in size beginning with the viewing room, followed by the project room, then the main gallery space.

The concrete terrain of the basement is shaped by the structural footings of the building.

The footings create raised perimeter platforms and paths that step down into the communal kitchen and art handling areas. The original rear yard windows have been restored to allow natural light into the spaces below grade.

The ceilings of the gallery spaces were designed to conceal all exposed plumbing in the original loft-like environment. Linear surface mounted LED fixtures are laid out to emphasize the scale and geometry of each gallery space. The same fixtures are used in the basement to maintain a continuity for viewing and photographing artwork.

End Note:

This is the third gallery space we have designed for CANADA over the course of 12 years as the gallery has emerged as emerged as an important member of the Lower East Side gallery community. Each space has a story and interesting context. Please contact us form images and descriptions of these earlier Canada projects.