Napa Valley, California
In California’s Napa Valley a private museum of contemporary art is excavated on a vineyard site using technology developed for wine caves. The intimate and curvaceous space, which is passively climate controlled, creates a unique environment in which to experience the collection.
BSC designed this singular space buried within a hillside in California’s Napa Valley for clients with an extensive collection of contemporary art developed over 25 years. Many of the works are very large in scale and demanding of highly specific installation conditions. The design adapts the architectural typology and tunneling construction techniques developed for wine caves typical throughout Napa Valley to create a unique 5,750-square-foot column-free interior art space. With the curvaceous geometry of the cave, the space is free of the familiar architectural cues of corner, edge and detail, and the encounter with art occurs in a context unencumbered by traditional associations.
The cave provides a naturally tempered environment for art and takes advantage of the geologic conditions of the site since bedrock weathered to residual soil provides ideal conditions for tunneling. Its character is expressed in the intersections of tunnel vaults and in sculpted pockets that wash the interior surfaces with light.
Located on a 17-acre site along with an active vineyard, the original farmhouse built in 1878, and a dispersed collection of large outdoor artworks and landscape pieces, the cave’s presence is articulated by sculptural corten steel entry portals incised into the hillside. In contrast with the farmhouse, a symbol of the domestication of the landscape, the cave’s condition as architecture is ambiguous: its scale and form are indeterminate. The spaces of the art cave are designed to complement the domestic-scale display spaces of the farmhouse.
Located on a 17-acre site along with an active vineyard, the original farmhouse built in 1878, and a dispersed collection of large outdoor artworks and landscape pieces, the cave’s presence is articulated by sculptural corten steel entry portals incised into the hillside. In contrast with the farmhouse, a symbol of the domestication of the landscape, the cave’s condition as architecture is ambiguous: its scale and form are indeterminate. The spaces of the art cave are designed to complement the domestic-scale display spaces of the farmhouse.
Located on a 17-acre site along with an active vineyard, the original farmhouse built in 1878, and a dispersed collection of large outdoor artworks and landscape pieces, the cave’s presence is articulated by sculptural corten steel entry portals incised into the hillside. In contrast with the farmhouse, a symbol of the domestication of the landscape, the cave’s condition as architecture is ambiguous: its scale and form are indeterminate. The spaces of the art cave are designed to complement the domestic-scale display spaces of the farmhouse.
Located on a 17-acre site along with an active vineyard, the original farmhouse built in 1878, and a dispersed collection of large outdoor artworks and landscape pieces, the cave’s presence is articulated by sculptural corten steel entry portals incised into the hillside. In contrast with the farmhouse, a symbol of the domestication of the landscape, the cave’s condition as architecture is ambiguous: its scale and form are indeterminate. The spaces of the art cave are designed to complement the domestic-scale display spaces of the farmhouse.
Design Team
Timothy Bade
Jane Stageberg
Martin Cox (principal-in-charge)
Andrew Skey
Lighting Design
Renfro Design Group
Photography
Jason Schmidt
Florian Holzherr
Drew Altizer
Design Team
Timothy Bade
Jane Stageberg
Martin Cox (principal-in-charge)
Andrew Skey
Design Team
Timothy Bade
Jane Stageberg
Martin Cox (principal-in-charge)
Andrew Skey
Design Team
Timothy Bade
Jane Stageberg
Martin Cox (principal-in-charge)
Andrew Skey
Lighting Design
Renfro Design Group
Photography
Jason Schmidt
Florian Holzherr
Drew Altizer
Awards
The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design
Illuminating Engineering Society of New York
American Institute of Architects California
More Projects
Brooklyn NY 11201
T: 917.685.4983
