AIA New York design awards 2018 honor in architecture to Miguel Quismondo for the project Magazzino Italian art

AIA New York, the oldest and largest chapter of the American Institute of Architects, awarded an Honor in Architecture to Miguel Quismondo of MQ Architecture for the project of Magazzino Italian Art during the 2018 AIANY Design Awards Jury Symposium on January 8, 2018.

On Monday, January 8, 2018, a jury of independent architects, educators, critics, and planners from outside New York City convened at the Center for Architecture to select the winners of the 2018 AIA New York Design Awards.

The 32 projects and architecture firms selected represent the exceptional work by AIA New York members and architects practicing in New York City in four categories: Architecture, Interiors, Projects, and Urban Design. Each winning project, granted either an Honor, Merit, or Citation award, was chosen for its design quality, response to its context and community, project development, innovation, thoughtfulness, and technique. Of the 19 awards conferred in the Architecture category, Quismondo of MQ Architecture received one of the five Honors announced that evening.

“I think everybody was really taken by just the sheer beauty of this project... not just the materiality of it, but as an [exhibition space], being so wonderfully beautiful, applauding the art, and [having] fantastic views from the gallery space—all so very, very simple and restrained, and yet so unbelievably difficult to do,” stated Debra Lehman Smith, Founding Partner of LSM Studio and one of the AIANY Design Awards jurors.

Quismondo completed the existing L-shaped building into a rectangle with a central courtyard. This concept allowed the architect to propose an independent structure that would run parallel to the longer segment of the existing building and link both structures by means of two glass connectors, thus stressing the importance of the lightness of the composition. In addition establishing a dialogue between the new and the existing structures.

Open to the public since June 28th 2017, Magazzino Italian Art is a private warehouse art space dedicated to Postwar and Contemporary Italian art. Located in Cold Spring, New York, Magazzino displays works from the Olnick Spanu Collection with the mission to create further recognition of Postwar and Contemporary Italian Art in the United States through its exhibitions and programs.

The building itself draws architectural components from an existing structure—originally designed as a farmers’ warehouse, then converted to a dairy distribution center and most recently a rugged computer factory—repurposed within a larger design conceived and led by New York-based, Spanish architect Miguel Quismondo, which allowed for more than 18,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Magazzino, meaning “warehouse” in Italian, attempts to pay homage to its name and to the Arte Povera collection which it houses. The artists associated to this art movement worked with elements considered to be poor, low-quality, or readily available, Quismondo wanted to pursue this philosophy by using simple components and building techniques. The “in situ” formwork concrete wall, shaped with phenol-treated wood panels, makes up the skin of the new container; the roof cover is solved by using a simple structure involving Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) and metal gable trusses, while the white interior walls create a neutral backdrop which allows the art to remain the protagonist.

Quismondo stated: “I want to thank Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu, co-founders of Magazzino Italian Art, for the trust they have placed on me throughout the years. In addition I want to thank my friend and mentor Alberto Campo Baeza. It is with a great satisfaction that I am able to offer this achievement to all of them. Magazzino would not exist without their vision. This project has been a tremendous team effort—one in which many people have been placing their best work toward the realization, from its inception to the construction and today the same quality of work continues thanks to the excellent work of the Director Vittorio Calabrese and his team”.

Quismondo’s work will be showcased at the 2018 AIANY Design Awards exhibition at the Center for Architecture beginning Friday, April 20, with an opening reception from 6-8pm.