Situated on the banks of the Hudson River in New York State, Dia:Beacon Riggio Galleries is a beautiful exhibition space set within a renovated Nabisco (National Biscuit Company) box printing facility. The Dia Art Foundation has been a pioneer in converting industrial buildings into sites specifically designed for contemporary art, and this collaboration between American artist Robert Irwin and OpenOffice Architecture is a beautiful example of adaptive reduce that injects creativity into the 22,000 square meter space.
The surrounding landscape includes fruit trees that bloom in the spring and a traditional garden. The project is located next to ninety acres of riverfront parkland which dwarfing its own thirty-one acres – the museum feels like it’s in the middle of the countryside.
The space still has signs of its previous life; the former industrial structure – originally built in 1929 – is still intact. Light streams in through large windows to some of the main rooms, while darker spaces require curating with more creativity. Remodeled in 2003, the Foundation’s most recent renovation has transformed it into a celebrated space for contemporary art that presents temporary exhibitions and public programs to complement the collection and exhibitions and just over an hour away from New York City.
+ Dia:Beacon
Images courtesy of Dia:Beacon
