Frieze Art FairNew YorkUSA
Frieze Art Fair is an annual event that draws international audiences to Randall’s Island Park in New York. Set along the East River’s edge, the week-long event is an experiment in ephemeral placemaking: a flexible and open space for contemporary art in a natural context.
Frieze Art Fair
New YorkUSA
Installations
225,000 m2 / 2,420,000 sf
Completed
Our design for the temporary exhibition structure is a case study in innovative approaches to project constraints. The project required a quick turnaround for concept development and construction within a tight budget. These constraints were integral to the final iconic form.
Working within the limited vocabulary of a prefabricated rental structure aroused inventiveness in design. To address the fair’s high density of content, our design introduces variety by way of a series of angled voids along the 1,500-foot structure. These wedges make room for visitor amenities while bending the otherwise straight tent into a meandering, supple shape. The resulting undulation affords novel sightlines to spotlight works that may have been easily overlooked if hung along a straight corridor.
The winding form of the tent also echoes that of the shoreline, re-establishing a connection to the landscape. Its curves create a sculpture garden at one point and wrap behind foliage to make way for a deck and food trucks at another. The lightweight tent fabric aids in creating a diffused light ideal for the display of art. The modularity of the tent allows the fair organizers to quickly assemble and reconfigure the space. Originally intended for a single occasion, our design was so well received by the organizers and the public that it has been used again each year.
Model
Drawings