The Slipback Gallery is designed to display a private collection of artwork for the fictitious Mr. Steve Steves. Steve Steves is a bit of an eclectic and his tastes include works of such disparate scale (and refinement) as a Richard Serra sculpture and a collection of shot glasses, snowglobes, spoons, and statuettes. The challenge with this project is how to display these objects with equal dignity and in a space that accomodates their disparate scales.
The form for the gallery is derived from a series of formal studies. After analyzing and spatializing the formal strategies in a painting by Josef Albers, the first step was to make an object out of 96 layers of museum-board which tried to expressed this formal concept. The concept elaborated in this project is one about spaces slipping past each other. After the first model, refinements were made and the rockite model was produced. This model then became the driving form for the building design.
Exhibition spaces for the gallery are divided so that the scale of the souvenirs is not dwarfed by the Serra sculpture. The Serra scultpure resides on the roof of the building, while the souvenirs are in the basement. The stairs to these two spaces slip past each other, allowing the viewer glimpses into either space. The building was integrated into a site with several other students’ projects. Part of the requirements was to have a continuous exterior pedestrian path. This path slips up and through the main circulation of the gallery, giving the pedestrian a view inside.
