Art Gallery 5 Plus 5

Photography by Cheryl Ramsay and Ramona d’Viola of Ilumus www.ramsayphotography.com

This Art Gallery in an old converted hotel and flop house, brings art to downtown San Diego. This alternative reuse is a vital addition to San Diego’s growing downtown population. While the living units downtown have more than doubled in the last ten years so has San Diego’s demand for culture. It’s nice to see building owner’s and clients commissioning an adaptive reuse project that compliments San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter history. One of the goals of the project was to maintain the distinction of the 75 year old historic structure while providing a new contemporary blank canvas for the emerging San Diego art scene. The project distinguishes the old and new while allowing the patrons to enjoy the art and context. As the design evolved, concerns were raised regarding the texture and history, would the art or the historic richness be compromised? The gallery strikes a balance with the concept of providing a blank canvas for the canvas. It is a flexible setting that can be taken as a whole or as spaces with in the space. The display walls are sub-divided to provide breathing room between multiple artist exhibits or by framing individual pieces experienced along a path. The wood flooring is set on an angle to draw you towards the art while allowing patrons to circulate efficiently in the space. Just as in a painting there is a fore, middle, and background, this space was designed along a similar concepts: the historic building is the background, the floating plains are the middle-ground, and the viewer’s relationship to art in the space is the foreground. These relationships setup a respect for the existing context and allow an old building to bring culture and dynamism to a blossoming urban fabric.