Display Cases in Yale University Art Gallery | Zone Display Cases

The Margaret and Angus Wurtele Study Center is a storage facility that displays approximately 33,000 three-dimensional objects, increasing the accessibility of the Gallery’s collections for teaching, scholarly research, conservation, and scientific analysis.

The architects WeatherstonBruer Associates and the Yale University team, had a concept in mind for this 49,000 sq. foot space that would provide a combination of open-shelf, vitrine, and drawer storage to maximize visibility of the most important and frequent part of the collection, while also ensuring ready access to all of the objects housed at the center.

Challenge

Yale was looking for the highest standards in conservation and preservation, and for flexible storage solutions that were highly accessible to the students at Yale and students visiting the gallery from all around the world.

The goal of this project was to provide the best open access storage environment for a complete range of materials in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.

Solutions

For this assignment, Zone Display Cases developed a unique modular assembly freestanding case system that met all the conservation standards.

A prototype was fully tested and approved prior to the fabrication of a large series of identical cases that counted over 150 glass doors, each weighing approximately 160lbs. Some of these cases integrated active microclimate devices to assure optimal protection of the most sensitive objects.