New York City
Tillotson Design Associates

Tillotson Design Associates wraps the Mixed Greens art gallery with white light

By Leanne French

	Photo © Michael Moran

The Mixed Greens gallery aims to counter the often-rarefied trappings of the contemporary art world. Launched in 1999 as an online operation and later expanded to a bricks-and-mortar gallery in New York City’s Chelsea district, the business was founded with the philosophy that “great, affordable art should be part of everyone’s life,” says owner Paige West. This egalitarian approach extends to its new location on West 26th Street, a 3,500-square-foot, white-on-white landscape set beneath a luminous fluorescent ceiling that emphasizes the art on display.

Architects David Leven and Stella Betts, principals of Leven Betts Studio, allowed the challenging conditions of the gallery’s existing raw space to dictate the renovation. A deep central beam and five irregularly spaced columns led the architects to create a custom dropped ceiling as a unifying element. Clad with translucent acrylic panels, the ceiling houses lighting, HVAC, and sprinkler systems. Supported by flat, mill-finish aluminum bars, the monolithic structure also serves as a visual cue that draws visitors through the two main display areas.

Lighting designer Suzan Tillotson, principal of Tillotson Design Associates, orchestrated the ceiling’s luminous glow. The client was initially opposed to fluorescent lighting, fearing it would be too harsh, so Tillotson created a lighting mock-up to compare three sources set behind acrylic: incandescents, dimmable 3000K fluorescents, and warmer 2700K fluorescents. “After the client saw the three options, she chose the 3000K fluorescents,” Tillotson says. “Our challenge was to translate the mock-up to a larger scale, and make the lighting set off the art without the gallery seeming too cool or ‘surgery-suite’ sterile.”

Tandem-mounted, T8 fluorescent strip lights were carefully placed to eliminate shadows from the ductwork and pipes, ensuring a uniformity of illumination across the ceiling plane. The design team optimized the plenum depth at 16 inches to create a consistent surface and a comfortable finished-ceiling height. The ambient glow of the translucent canopy compensates for a lack of natural light, which was sacrificed when windows were covered to accommodate additional wall displays. To further accent the art, additional downlights attach to ceiling tracks.

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the People Owner Paige West Lighting designer Suzan Tillotson Tillotson Design Associates 40 Worth Street New York, NY 10013 T (212) 675-7760 F (212) 675-7826 www.tillotsondesign.com Lighting design project team: Suzan Tillotson, Shiri Cnaani, Greg Emetez Architect Leven Betts Studio 511 West 25th Street  #808 New York  NY  10001 T  (212) 620-9792 F  (212) 620-3235 www.levenbetts.com Partners: David Leven Stella Betts Associate: Tim Furzer Jonathan Man Interior designer Ghislaine Vinas Interior Design 67 Vestry Street  #8B New York  NY  10013 T  (212) 219-7678 F  (212) 219-2758 www.gvinteriors.com/ General contractor Taocon Inc 244 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor New York  NY  10001 T  (212) 689-7799 F  (212) 689-4499 www.taocon.com Photographer Michael Moran 10 West 18th Street, 7th Floor New York  NY  10011 T (212) 334-4543

the Products Lighting Interior ambient lighting: Fluorescent striplights: Bartco with Lutron dimming ballasts www.bartcolighting.com www.lutron.com Incandescent track lights: Capris Customized Nippo seamless line (exposed fluorescent strips): www.nippo-web.com/us/ Controls Lutron www.lutron.com