Asia Society and Museum
A dramatic four-story steel and glass stair at the redesigned headquarters of the Asia Society and Museum at Park Avenue and 70th Street in Manhattan is emblematic of perhaps the single common theme in Asian architecture: the drive for perfection.The 72,000 square foot interior of the building designed by Edward Larabee Barnes in 1981 has been gutted and reconfigured, doubling the space for exhibition galleries, public areas and performing arts, and creating spaces for the society’s public policy programming, education, and Web site development activities. The first floor is devoted to a reception area, store, and a two-story garden court, which houses a café.
The galleries, formerly on the first and second floors, were relocated to the second and third floors. A grand stair comprising a white steel spine with blue glass treads rises upward four flights, connecting all of the galleries.
The Spirit of Asia
The redesign posed interesting challenges for architects Voorsanger and Associates of New York. Aesthetically, the spaces needed to reflect the spirit of Asia,” observes Bartholomew Voorsanger, FAIA, design principal.
However, there is no single “Asian style” of architecture. “The conundrum is that Asia stretches from Australia to northern China to the Philippines to Iran, representing perhaps 30 different cultures, as well as multiple cultures within those,” Voorsanger continues. “Japanese architecture, for example, is very much concerned with the ways in which every structural element meets another, whereas Iranian architecture is much more involved with the surface textures and colors.”Therefore, the architects searched for common themes. “What is powerful about Asian architecture is its conviction of purpose, clarity of geometry, and exquisite use of materials and detailing,” Voorsanger says, “These issues guided our design choices.”
A Ceremonial Stair
The design of the stair was critically important to the project, according to Voorsanger. “I think there are elements of a project that give it energy and a visual wellspring,” he says. “This is one of the elements we hoped would do that.“We needed to do something absolutely wonderful that would draw people up these three levels,” he adds. “My feeling about stairs is that they should be ceremonial – a really enthralling experience. I also wanted the stairs to be transparent so that natural light from the third level would infuse itself all the way down to the lobby.”
Thus the stair is constructed of steel coated in while high-gloss automobile paint, with blue glass treads and curved steel and crystal glass handrails. (The blue and white are reminiscent of the colors in a Ming vase in the museum’s collection.) The high-gloss coating on the steel “dematerializes the structure at the same time it reveals it.”
The Drive for Perfection
The difficult thing about glossy paint, of course, is that it reveals every imperfection. This put tremendous pressure on the fabricator to do this perfectly. “That is what Asian architecture is all about: doing this perfectly,” Voorsanger notes. “The stair had to be emblematic of perfection.”The entire structure was prefabricated in sections by Post Road Ironworkers David Shuldiner and Depp Glass, and the elements bolted and/or welded together on site. An ensemble of people worked together. In the end it was just done beautifully. Photographs by Fran Solomon