Viewing Rooms is an architecture distilled to its essence: space, light, movement, material. Conceived in collaboration with photographer Ljubodrag Andric, the project is not bound to a client or site, yet it operates within a defined framework—a collector, a landscape, a structure that mediates between the two. A space not only for exhibition, but also for perception.
The sequence is precise. Three rooms, aligned in a linear procession. The first and last are perfect squares, while the central space is a 3:4 rectangle—its proportions drawn from classical principles, echoing the harmony of musical consonances. The journey begins in an antechamber, enclosed on all sides yet open to the sky, where a circular void in the ceiling frames shifting light and weather. This threshold blurs the boundary between landscape and built form, drawing focus inward.
A pivot door leads into a low, compressed entry—a moment of transition defined by two thickened volumes. From here, the floor begins its gentle slope downward into the first enclosed room, a rectangular volume conceived for sculpture, works on paper, and mixed media. Two vertical light chimneys punctuate the ceiling, their presence articulated through subtle curvature, diffusing light and extending the perception of height.
At the far end, another threshold, identical to the first, guides movement further downward into the final space—a room designed for photography and works on paper. Here, a single light chimney is placed at the far end, its effect making the display wall seem endless. The four corners are subtly rounded, dissolving spatial rigidity. In this space, architecture withdraws, leaving only the presence of art, light, and the quiet act of seeing.
Materially, the project is restrained. Walls, floor, and ceiling do not merely enclose but actively shape the experience. The boundary between architecture and environment remains ambiguous—somewhere between a room, a pavilion, and a landscape. This is not merely a space for displaying art, but one in which art and its surroundings become inseparable.
Externally, Viewing Rooms is monolithic—an enigmatic volume suspended between past and present. Its mineral, mono-material surface appears hewn from a single mass, a structure at once timeless and abstract. A horizontal datum line divides the form: above, three vertical chimney-like elements rise from the roof, calibrated to pull diffuse daylight deep into the rooms below; below, five concave bands emerge, lending a more human scale to the base. These undulations suggest geological time—stone shaped by wind and water—or something more immediate, the imprint of fingertips pressed into soft clay.
The sequence is deliberate. Approach, threshold, passage. The ground subtly shifts; the body adjusts. Light filters in, changes, recedes. Spaces expand and contract, framing not only the art but the voids around it. Architecture becomes a backdrop to perception—an interplay of space, light, and movement that heightens the act of seeing.
Project Team: Francesco Valente-Gorjup, Aleris Rodgers, Mo Bayati, Anvi Nagpal, with renderings by luminous & zytro
