Dan's Domain: Making Space for Art in Architecture

The life and work of the artist is intricately tied to the spaces in which he or she practices. These spaces define who we are and what we make. They give us room to act, to make, to create a world for ourselves that is free from the constraints of the outside world. In order to feel comfortable, confident and empowered by their work, it is essential that the artist has control over their studio space. The studio is a support structure that allows the artist to create his own work and to connect and learn from others. For many artists, the studio is a personal and private space, organized and reconfigured if not designed in the first place to suit the individual artist’s own needs. However individual artists and their studios tend to aggregate together to in particular buildings and neighborhoods to form collectives that not only share space but also share values, attitudes towards practice, and visions for the future. In turn these collectives allow groups of artists to connect with the city at large, to negotiate and participate in the definition of an urban culture. Thus at a fundamental level this project seeks to better understand the relationship between the artist and the city, and between the individual and the collective. While the primary objective is to provide spaces for making, the project is grounded in the idea that art can go beyond self-expression and serve as a means to empower those who previously did not have a voice.
The spatial, programmatic and material needs of artists will drive the project towards the design of a community arts center. This is a place that will allow a diverse network of artists from all over the city to come together at a centralized place. Its primary aim is to support arts practice and education. However if the program is to be self-sustaining, and truly give artists control over their space, then it must address issues of economics, real-estate and community involvement. The community will be centered on a large, open studio floor that gives the younger, less experienced artists studying there enough space to be comfortable but also puts them in close proximity with their peers, allowing them to establish relationships between themselves and their work, to share and learn from one another. Individual studios will also be provided for the experienced artists that serve as mentors to the young artists. While providing privacy and containment, they will not seek to impose the architect’s will on the artist. Rather they will be designed as flexible frameworks that allow the artist to shape the space according to his or her needs. A machine shop for wood and metal will support a sculpture studio and allow the building’s inhabitants to construct internal architecture, furniture, contraptions and exhibition walls. Rather than designing the building as a finished product, it will be a framework that the artist’s working there can add to as they see fit. A gallery space will give the center’s inhabitants the ability to transfer their work directly from the studio to the marketplace, transferring control of the display and sales of artwork back to the artist. Finally a gallery store will give the center a street level presence that promotes economic sustainability and provides a more direct means for sharing work with the public. The primary objective of this project is to establish a program that goes beyond the allotment of square footages towards a comprehensive strategy for economic, social, political and educational engagement with the surrounding city. Like any good school, this arts center exists to support its students and mentors, and to serve the surrounding community.
The arts have shaped the form and culture of the city throughout the history of civilization. In the past two decades, however, the arts have become one of the most powerful modes of redevelopment in cities across the world. This broad phenomenon includes top-down, institutionalized projects like the Bilbao Guggenheim or the Tate Modern in London. A more interesting phenomenon, however, is the gradual shift of neighborhoods like SOMA in San Francisco, SOHO in New York and Fort Point in Boston from industrial areas, to artist enclaves, to cultural centers for the elite. Thus far, artists have fueled this phenomenon without having any control over it, as they are usually evicted by landlords and developers once they have helped raise property values with their galleries and boutiques. The question remains of how can artists take control of this process of arts-based redevelopment so that they benefit directly from the changes rather than developers and real estate agents. Oakland is a city that is on the verge of this type of transformation. All over the city, in West Oakland, Downtown, Jack London Square and on Telegraph Ave, artist communities, schools and galleries have begun to reclaim abandoned and disused spaces to support new communities and give focus to existing ones. The spaces available to these types of groups are more often than not the remnants of the city’s industrial past. The decaying industrial infrastructure that once served the interests of war and capitalism can be revitalized to create spaces for making the art and the culture of the city.