A Linear and Didactic Dreamscape

In a gallery beneath a 28-story tower overlooking Tampa Bay, architect Alberto Alfonso has collaborated with Seattle glass sculptor Dale Chihuly to create a stunning home for the artist’s sweeping body of work.

Conceived five years ago, a permanent destination for the Chihuly Collection was in serious doubt as recently as 2009. It was originally to be housed in its own distinctive tower in downtown St. Petersburg, but when the economy tanked, its fate turned into a question mark. A developer with vision then stepped forward, offering space at 400 Beach Drive NE.

Alberto, one of four architects featured recently in Saxon Henry’s “Four Florida Moderns,” reacted quickly, with drive, vigor and intensity.

“I did a three week charrette,” Alberto said. “Then I flew out to Seattle to get Dale on board with the design. It was meant to be a pristine project for his art.”

Dale, who had seriously considered bringing a halt to the entire project, liked what he saw and eagerly climbed on board.

“The parti is a linear, didactic dreamscape,” Alberto said. “You move from one dream to another, with a focus as much on the portals as on the galleries. We took each series in the collection, and designed a room that responds to what he was thinking when he designed it.”

Alberto called for ten primary and secondary galleries connected by portals, along with an introductory theater, for a total of 10,000 square feet at the Morean Arts Center. “It’s about compression and expansion,” he said. “The galleries have a twelve-foot maximum ceiling height, and the portals have seven feet.”

When it was time to begin work, the architect set himself up as contractor, established a welding shop on site, and created all the installations with help from his associates. They got started in January and finished just a few weeks ago. “Three architects were in the field on this project, twenty-four seven,” he said.

His material palette eliminated drywall as an option, and focused instead on plaster and cypress recycled from Florida’s rivers and swamps. The wood is wrapped in black gunmetal steel, with stone for emphasis also. “You go from a gallery with Venetian plaster to a portal with walls of cypress and steel,” he said.

His challenge was to create a series of spaces that bowed respectfully to one of the giants in the field of glass sculpture. “We created a minimalism that relied on being recessive and supportive to the collection,” he said. “The worst thing I could have done would have been to compete with the glass.”

For more on the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center , go to http://moreanartscenter.org/chihuly/

For more on Alberto Alfonso, go to http://alfonsoarchitects.com

For more on Dale Chihuly, go to http://www.chihuly.com/