Leila Heller Gallery brought Charlap Hyman & Herrero on for the interior architecture of their new space in Dubai. As the largest commercial gallery in the Middle East, the project includes multiple exhibition rooms, offices, reception areas and staircases. Engaging both the dramatic scale of the structure and the intimacy that is essential to the gallery experience, CH&H created an exhibition space that recalls Leila Heller Gallery’s space in Chelsea, NY, while taking part in the dynamic cultural development in the region.
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The use of elemental materials like concrete and plaster is elevated by smaller, more precious volumes like the front desk, rendered in a honed travertine and appearing as a solid block that hovers above the floor. Reveals are utilized throughout the space to imbue the massive architecture with a sense of weightlessness. In the corner openings, the concrete floor slabs appear to glide over each other, both delineating and connecting each gallery. In one in particular, a pair of staircases split away from each other as if reflected in a mirror, leading to offices on one side and to a private viewing room on the other. A metaphysical abstraction is thus realized in a language of restraint and precision.
