New York, New York
In Progress
The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Cornell Capa founded ICP in 1974 to champion “concerned photography”—socially and politically minded images that can educate and change the world.
The Center combines two intertwined programs on three floors, totalling 60,000 square feet: a museum with three floors of art galleries, a cafe, and a bookstore; and a photography school with photography studios & dark rooms, a photography equipment room, classrooms, a library, and administrative offices.
We designed the master plan of the three-story ICP museum to improve the functionality of the galleries, expand the library, and engage the surrounding community at the sidewalk level. We determined that an existing loading dock could be converted into a welcoming exhibit and event space. A new glass-panelled rolling door will open ICP to the street in the warm months, creating a significant indoor/outdoor moment to invite the community in. Strategic branding on the facade of the building will create an iconic exterior that signals one’s arrival to the museum and school.
To activate the museum’s main entrance, we relocated the existing, embedded cafe to the streetfront facade, providing visibility for social activities inside. A new reception area and bookstore frame the passage to the new ground floor gallery that adds significant wall space for art. We also added a new handicap-accessible bathroom to the ground floor (none had existed before). The ground floor phase is currently in design development.
The second and third floors are connected by a double-height atrium. Re-usable movable partitions on both floors allow for exhibits to be easily reconfigured without the waste of taking down and rebuilding walls for each upcoming show. This concept celebrates a sustainable approach to museum curation and display. The movable partitions can be quickly collapsed to the sides of the galleries when galas and lectures require a large open space for many people to gather.
The design of the third floor will include a gallery and ICP’s William Randolph Hearst Library, dedicated to the entire discipline of photography with an extensive collection of photobooks and other resources. Mezzanines of bookshelves overlooking the atrium will extend from the reading room, which is open to all staff, faculty, students, museum members, and researchers.
CONSULTANTS
STRUCTURAL Murray Engineering
CODE CONSULTANT William Vitacco Associates
MEP CES Engineering
LIGHT Christine Sciulli Light + Design
COST ESTIMATOR Stuart Lynn Company