Architect：Giles Reid Architects

Location：London, United Kingdom; | ;

Project Year：2020

Category：Shops

A new contemporary art space for Stuart Shave Modern Art in Bury Street, St James’s, Mayfair.

The gallery opened August 2020 with an exhibition of work by Austrian painter Martha Jungwirth. Future exhibitions are planned with Richard Tuttle and Sanya Kantarovsky.

The main timber facade has been restored and painted black. The ground floor gallery is a single room, naturally lit from the front, with a new stair at the rear.

This descends to a second smaller gallery defined by square dimensions. A glazed door leads to a staff office, also used for private viewing.

Here a new timber facade looks onto a light-well below the street. The process of restoration uncovered glazed brick slips, previously hidden behind decades of paint.

All three rooms are unified by minimal floor detailing and track lighting. This is offset by traditional timber and glass doors and a reclaimed oak parquet floor.

The intention is to create an interior which is neither wholly modern nor traditional, but an appropriate addition to the street.

Solid walnut furniture is from the studio of American woodworker George Nakashima (1905-1990). Other freestanding furniture is by Le Corbusier, Jean Prouve and Hilton Marlton.