Hyde Park Art Center
Honor Award
- Garofalo Architects
- Hyde Park Art Center
- Consultants Thornton Tomasetti Engineers; Building Engineering Systems; Chandra Goldsmith (Landscape Architecture)
- Division Institutional
- Location Chicago, IL
- General contractor Crown Construction and Development
Overview
The budget was small, the mission large. The architects' solution was to create spaces that seem larger than their actual physical selves. That's especially true of the glass and steel tube that floats above the sidewalk piazza outside the main gallery; here is where artists install work in many media for viewing from both outside and in. "The idea of the ever-changing element of the façade is outstanding," a juror said, "an idea to keep what appears to be a very limited budget from getting in the way of making beauty." The transparency continues inside, where disappearing doors encourage flow among spaces while honoring fire-separation needs, and interior windows double as vitrines for small exhibitions.
