Edge Motor Museum
Occupying a former car manufacturing facility-turned-potato chip factory-turned custom guitar factory, Edge Motor Museum exemplifies adaptive re-use through the insertion of new architecture within a contrasting existing shell. The museum design maintained 6 primary goals/ideas: 1. Treat cars as works of art. 2. Clean surfaces without articulation. 3. White. 4. Highlight qualities of existing building. 5. Resist anything flashy. 6. Gracefully transition between levels. The existing building is spread over two levels: a smaller, upper street level and larger lower level. A diagram was developed treating the upper level as lobby display before pinching the space at the ticketing counter. Visitors are guided through the space by a continuous wall originating within the lobby and running alongside a sweeping ramp. Its wall surface graphically relates to the current exhibit while simultaneously serving as indirect light source through its heavy illumination. Opposite this wall, a glass guardrail offers greater views of the automobiles as one moves down the ramp. At the display floor, cars are positioned in a circular array around a central turntable. White walls serve as a neutral backdrop, allowing the cars to viewed as paintings in a museum. Overhead, the existing steel roof trusses are exposed with their ruggedness in sharp contrast to the precise white walls below. A members’ mezzanine occupies this truss zone as its leading edge is sculpted to the geometry of the display floor below. The detail shop is nestled behind an existing brick wall, allowing visitors views into the extensive detailing process before cars are put on display.
The building’s primary exterior façade of glazed terracotta was preserved and restored. With new lighting and glazing, the building now stands as a beacon among the various mundane automotive garages lining the street. It’s relationship with Sun Studios has been wildly successful with each benefiting the other as they serve as anchors in revitalizing the Edge District.
