NEW JERSEY, USA (1985)
A showroom for new Mercedes Benz automobiles is located on a small site with typical commercial buildings to its left. In order to hide an unattractive diner from the view of people approaching the showroom via the primary road access, a tall wall of polished black stone is erected. This reflective, black wall serves as a display board as well as a backdrop for profiling the new vehicles. The exhibition spaces-both exterior and interior are conceived as continuous ramped surfaces that lead up and down from the road level and evoke the feeling of movement. The enclosed showroom consists of translucent glass-block floors that are inclined so that visitors are able to view cars from above and below as well as laterally. The cars presented sculpture suggest acceleration and deceleration; and the translucent glass plane, dematerialized by the light passing through it, emphasizes the poetic aspect of movement.
