The two exhibition galleries, totaling 7,000 square feet, are the real stars of this compact but hospitable building. The Vladem boasts 6,400 square feet of collections care and storage, including viewable storage a generously proportioned Artist-in-Residence Studio (currently occupied by Oswaldo Maciá, whose eight-channel sound installation, “El Cruce,” fills the Studio Terrace with recordings of the wind and the chatter of migratory birds, bats, and insects, all blending with the clamor of the Railyard) the stunning Rooftop Terrace, from which visitors can take in views of Santa Fe and a 2300 square foot Education Center. The breezeway itself is graced with an overhead light installation, “Astral Array” (2023), by Leo Villarreal. The museum shop is located discreetly across the south entrance’s breezeway, refreshingly and effectively positioning commerce away from the art viewing experience. On my visits, I observed throngs of museum attendees, most visiting for the first time, moving through the space freely and intuitively. DCNA’s Deirdre Harris said, “Movement though the building is self-choreographed you can experience it from any direction.” Indeed. At either end of the spacious lobby, the brick walls of the warehouse lend warmth and texture to the crisp new space. The new facility is steps from the Santa Fe Railyard train depot, galleries, and SITE Santa Fe - until now, Santa Fe’s main public venue for contemporary art. ![]() Susan York, “Cu:C” (2023) (all photos Amy Ellingson/ Hyperallergic unless otherwise noted) The dual axes of the combined architectural forms pay homage to Santa Fe’s past and present, symbolizing the city’s fiercely unique embrace of its architectural and esthetic histories, while emphatically nudging it beyond provincialism. The 18,000-square-foot addition, designed by DNCA in partnership with StudioGP, bridges the existing 20,000-square-foot brick and steel warehouse. “There was always the notion that the original territorial style brick warehouse would be saved,” said Contractor. ![]() The bodily gesture of one hand protecting the other is a poetic metaphor for the new structure that encapsulates an existing 1936 warehouse building, located on a busy intersection in Santa Fe’s Railyard Arts District. “It’s a gesture of preservation,” he explained. When I sat down with Devendra Contractor and Deirdre Harris of Devendra Narayan Contractor Architects (DNCA) to discuss the design for the New Mexico Museum of Art Vladem Contemporary, Contractor gently cupped one hand over the back of the other.
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