reOrder

Reconfiguring the scale, volume and order of the Beaux Arts tradition creates a playful and diaphanous experience at the Brooklyn Museum.

reOrder introduces a playful and diaphanous experience to Brooklyn Museum’s colossal Great Hall by altering its scale, volume and architectural order. Tasked with re-imagining the iconic McKim, Mead and White–designed space, this installation catalyzes its historical environment into a highly flexible space, capable of accommodating a wide range of programs and events, while also serving as an informal venue for visitors to sit, read and explore.

reOrder plays with the ideals of proportion and ornament that figure so centrally in the original Great Hall, which embodies the order, structure and harmony typical of the Beaux Arts–era. Our design—augmented by a new set of ordering principles that challenge the colossal scale of the space and the regularity of its grid—transforms the ornamental logic of the classical order in service of the complexities of a contemporary institutional program.

Building upon techniques developed in the textile industry for folding and gathering, a system of flexible fabric canopies disrupt and animate the columns that once ordered the space. These artistic interventions, combined with thermoformed benches and tables, create a unique forum for public interaction and assembly within this ever-evolving institution.

Client

Brooklyn Museum

Location

Brooklyn, NY

Scope

9,700 sq ft

Completion

2011

Photography

Keith Sirchio