This page was created by Jaclyn Legge. The last update was by Maegen Sargent.
From the Foyer
In any art gallery, the foyer plays a number of universal roles in the arrival of visitors, including orientation, service, and preparation (Laursen, 74). The National Gallery’s foyer area is unique due the mysterious presence of the Water Court above, which intensifies the typical user experience of the foyer.
The rippling water from the Water Court’s pool filters down through the glass ceiling of the foyer and creates a constant shimmering effect upon the floor, visible from across the ground floor of the National Gallery. The floor of the foyer is a checkerboard of small grey and opaque blue glass tiles, the latter of which refracts the light from above.
Upon arriving at the National Gallery, visitors may or may not pass through the foyer. Even if they do not, it is hard to miss the distant shimmering lights on the floor, which create a mystery to first-time visitors: if the gallery is above us, where is the light coming from? For visitors who do pass through the foyer, their curiosity is undoubtedly heightened in the time between their arrival and ascent up the gallery.
The foyer acts as an orientation device in that it allows the visitor to visualize the larger floor plan of the space they are in. By breaking the divide between ceiling and floor with glass, visitors have an anchor by which they can orient themselves through the space. They know that when they reach the source of shimmering light, they will be above the foyer through which they entered. Safdie is, perhaps stealthily, inviting visitors to subconsciously consider the gallery as an entire work of architecture, not just a space containing art. The foyer is also the home to the group tour service and information desk, which means that anybody participating in a group tour will reconvene under the shimmering lights. The allure of the Water Court has a conversational effect on those waiting for their group to all arrive, as it is easier to chat about an artfully-designed space than a neutral, white-walled waiting area. In the preparation before ascending into the gallery, visitors subconsciously begin to consider the impact of light and space around them, thus getting them into a mindful, art-digestive mindset. The shimmering floors refracting light from above become a mystery, the answer to which is to be found somewhere in the ascent, in which they now have a destination to anticipate.
The shimmering effect of the Water Court on the foyer is also like a blanket of calm upon the visitor, which calls to mind Safdie’s affinity for achieving serenity in architecture:
His search for serenity pairs perfectly with the project of an art gallery, wherein visitors are likely there seeking a sense of serenity and dream-like otherworldliness themselves. The Water Court feels like a paradise, big and wide and bare, letting voices echo and water ripple quietly along. Its serenity refracts all the way down to the floor below, its mysterious presence beckoning visitors to the gallery to come and find it.“The world has always been filled with violence. Nevertheless, and perhaps in response, I feel increasingly committed to a search for calmness and serenity in my own work. The more surrounded I become with acts of hubris, the greater my search for serenity – its opposite, and, I hope, the antidote.” (Safdie, 11)
