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Space4: Arts, installed at the Yards in Southeast DC.

Making Room
Making Room

for Art
for Art

Pop-up Installations by Architects

by Peter James, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

Architects typically design buildings to last 25, 50, or even 100 Space4: Arts
years. In Washington, a city that celebrates monumentality and
permanence and sometimes shies from controversy (in its buildings, CulturalDC, a non-profit that supports the local arts scene, first
at least), designers don’t often get the chance to experiment with hatched the idea for a mobile art gallery during an internal strategic
temporary forms or topical content. planning effort. “Our mission is to make space for art, to invite
The local arts scene is also constrained by the high cost of real people in,” said executive director Tanya Hilton. She continued,
estate. Further, the city’s well-funded museums, theaters, and “What better way to build and collaborate than to bring art directly
performance halls showcase canonical artworks of national and to doorsteps in neighborhoods and parks in DC?” CulturalDC
international prominence, leaving little space for local, home-grown envisioned this mobile art gallery rotating among all eight
art to be seen. District wards—bringing art to unexpected places and
Two recent pop-up arts installations designed by architects underserved communities.
challenge these trends by creating temporary, interactive spaces The next step for CulturalDC was to find a design partner who
for art in unexpected sites well outside the city’s monumental core. would help them realize the vision—and be able to work on a pro
These small-scale yet ambitious projects, made possible by generous bono basis due to limited project funding. Hilton said, “We went
in-kind donations of labor and materials from designers, contractors, to STUDIOS because we have collaborated with some of their
and suppliers, create new spaces for art and invite new voices to architects on public art before, and they are just as committed to
the conversation. arts and community as we are.”

72 MAKING ROOM FOR ART