PROJECT
Underground Art Movement
Laguna Art Museum- Basement Galleries
As part of a multi-phase renovation master-plan created Pro-Bono by Anders Lasater Architects for the Laguna Art Museum’s centennial year in 2019, the Basement Gallery was the first project to be funded and executed. Though it was an awkward and forgotten space, it had the potential to become a stunning, multi-salon exhibition gallery with just a bit of love, vision, and hard work.
Confronted with a low ceiling, and existing structural and mechanical infrastructure that could not easily be moved, our challenge was to create a thoughtful and well proportioned gallery space that would unfold and interconnect as the guest moves from salon to salon.
Together with Laguna Beach contractor Oligino-Laux Construction, and Laguna Beach structural engineer Harold Larson, Anders Lasater and his staff worked to create a set of architectural moments where smaller rooms, and long vistas to distant walls frame the artwork and draw the visitor further into the space.
The basement gallery space opened in early 2019 to great reviews and has hosted several outstanding shows since. It remains one of the Laguna Art Museum’s favorite galleries.
