Outside-In/ Inside-Out: Pratt Pavilion by hanrahan Meyers architects

Pratt Pavilion by hanrahan Meyers architects plays a fun game of inside/ outside.  Pratt Pavilion is a small pavilion with big ambitions, on the main Pratt campus in Fort Green, Brooklyn.  The pavilion floats in the air, above a glass entry vestibule.  The pavilion is a single room, which is used as the main teaching gallery for Pratt's Design Center, which houses all of the main design programs at Pratt Institute

 

 Newplan1_w_text

Victoria Meyers architect 

The plan above shows the plan of the Pavilion, to the south of a new courtyard, to the north.  The courtyard and the Pavilion Gallery were designed to occupy approximately the same area, with similar shapes:  to be mirror images.  'Mirror' – meaning – that we include the distortions inherent in the reflection.

I would argue that the Courtyard could be seen as 'Inside-Out';  and that the Pratt Pavilion Gallery is 'Outside-In' – as a spatial experience.

06-057-02C Outside-In:  hanrahan Meyers Pratt Pavilion Courtyard Victoria Meyers architect

06-057-17C Inside-Out:  hanrahan Meyers architects:  Pratt Pavilion Gallery Victoria Meyers architect

These dispositions and juxtapositions of what is normally outside, being inside, and, vice-versa, what is normally inside being outside, have a history in architectural design projects.  This would include the vestibule at Michelangelo's Laurentian Library, which is very much an Inside-Out space, through its extreme height, and its details.