Art, Culture, and the Neighborhood
The Hispanic Society, Audubon Terrace, and Civic Engagement in Washington Heights
Yale Advanced Design Studio with Melissa Del Vecchio and Ana Maria Duran Calisto
The Hispanic Society of America’s Museum and library, situated in the vibrant Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan, remains for many an undiscovered gem. However, its inward facing architecture makes it difficult for the museum to connect to and engage with this vibrant community, and its current facilities are too small and disconnected to properly display the full depth and breadth of its world class collections.
In order to address these issues, my project proposes to: reorient the museum towards the community, turning it inside out; increase physical and visual accessibility to make the museum more inviting and welcoming; create new space for community oriented programs, such as the museum’s education program, so that the museum can be a host to the community in a number of ways; and find ways to take pressure off the existing historic buildings to create a cohesive gallery experience.
These goals manifest in three surgical moves on the site: a new entrance to the museum off of 155th street, complimented by a welcoming landscape strategy allowing visitors to seamlessly flow in from Broadway Avenue; new space underneath the inner courtyard terrace dedicated to the museum’s education program which allows the historic terrace to be preserved; and an annex building located on the vacant lot dedicated to necessary museum back-of-house functions, which would release pressure on the existing space in the museum. These interventions in turn allow for the reworking of the interior layout within the historic architecture to create a cohesive gallery experience.
