Artblock is our exploration of the immensely lucrative art market and the degree to which a piece’s value seems not to be inherent but defined by an apparently arbitrary agreement between a few dealers and collectors. Despite its sale value being based so heavily on public perception, most art spends its life locked away, with public access only to the tip of the figurative iceberg. 

As an open response to our thinking, we developed a gallery concept benefitting private collectors and public visitors alike by incentivising the public display of smaller private collections in return for world class storage, education and restoration facilities. Works are able to earn their own price tag as their monetary value begins to converge on their ‘popular’ worth. 

To showcase this, we designed a flexible, sculptural building comprising of a state-of-the-art public gallery space and sculpture gardens, sited above multiple floors of subterranean art storage like the tip of an iceberg.