FALL 2015

GRADUATE STUDIO, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

PROF. ROBERT THOMAS

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CAM Raleigh currently offers art programs to primary and secondary level students and the community at large. In order to expand these program offerings and establish a higher education curriculum, CAM is embarking on the design and construction of a new art institute in downtown Raleigh, the I/CAM, or, Institute of the Contemporary Art Museum.

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The facility houses all research and education components for CAM. These include archive facilities and art laboratories, a library, housing extensive research and reference material, classrooms for lecture courses, studios, critique spaces, a large lecture hall, galleries for the display of work, offices for faculty and staff, and all necessary support infrastructure for the operation of the facility.

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The ICAM is situated on the western edge of Raleigh’s Warehouse District, a threshold moment between Raleigh’s newest grand entry point at Union Station and the city’s growing downtown core. As a result, the project is set up as an introduction to the city of Raleigh, a city that actively registers as both industrious with respect to new ideas and entrepreneurial initiative in addition to progressive concerning leadership and transparency. Upon leaving the station, visitors progressing down West Street are lifted up into ICAM via a large public ramp that works as an extension of West Street. Moving the pedestrian from ground level and onto the second floor begins the process of blurring the boundary between public and semi-private space(s) within the building.

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The pedestrian experience that begins with the liftoff from West Street continues within the building as the visitor begins to circulate through and around a large central courtyard. The circulation path permits the visitor to view into the various production spaces: an opportunity to observe the city of Raleigh’s newest industrial energy. The central circulation around the individual studios and workshops terminates at a large critique space. The critique, undoubtedly one of if not the most dynamic aspects of the creative process, becomes a central part of the visitor’s experience.

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The critique spaces, housed within a large truss that pierces two separate building masses containing distinctly both public and semi-private programmatic elements, is a central moment in the path of circulation in which both the visitor and the artist(s) experiences begin to overlap. No longer isolated from the creative process, the visitor is able to observe the artists’ critique firsthand, at the moment of exchange between artist (student) and critic. Finally, the pedestrian experience finishes with a grand view of downtown, simultaneously repositioning the visitor within the city in addition to reminding them of the city’s close relationship to/with the power of creativity, innovation and the arts.

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