Divided Unity

Divided Unity is an innovative art center in New Haven, Connecticut—a hidden gem within the New England region. With its accessibility to New York City and its association with Yale, New Haven has become an affordable and vibrant home for the young artists. Designed to support the growth of this emerging local art community, this unconventional art center houses twelve individual artist studios within its bundled towers, and features spacious public galleries in the podium.

The relationship between the towers and podiums serves as a metaphor for the connection between the artists and public, while also addressing a long-standing topic within architectural discourse. Throughout history, architects articulated the junctions between the horizontal and the vertical planes, starting from simple and sharp connections, to intricate and layered decorations, to sophisticated and fused geometries.

The art center design emphasized the transition between horizontal and vertical surfaces at multiple scales, showcasing the distinct yet cohesive identities of both. The bundled towers serve as a landmark for the site and a hub for the community. Here, artists are granted custom spaces: diverse studios with varying heights and shapes. Artists obtain a level of privacy that is not easy to achieve in the common art center—they can choose whether to be visible or unseen. Meanwhile, the public spaces lie humbly at ground level, offering an adventurous experience as visitors circulate between interior and exterior through unexpected, fused thresholds.

Divided Unity is a place where fluid transitions are built to not only connect the vertical and horizontal, but to link the artists with the community, and reach out far more beyond.