This seven story contemporary art museum is wrapped in an expanded metal mesh skin to create an ethereal presence in Manhattan’s Bowery district. Shifting setbacks provide skylights on every level to blend natural and artificial light in the galleries. The architects envisioned the galleries as bright white sculptural boxes flooded with light featuring a clear glass skylights allowing views to the sky. The lighting design was a challenge when the architect asked that each gallery be illuminated to a minimum of 60 footcandles. The exact spacing and quantity of the fixtures were based on both the building module and art requirements as well as achieving the required lighting level in the lowest 18’-6” gallery. The custom, removable fluorescent tracklight was designed to be refined, minimal, locally switched and plugged into busway. A combination of diffuse fluorescent striplights and cylindrical halogen source fixtures allowed ultimate flexibility for installations ranging from video to sensitive works on paper. TDA performed complex daylighting studies and full scale mock-ups with the design team to inform the light control media required in the skylights.

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