Tim Bade, Jane Stageberg and Martin Cox, of Bade Stageberg Cox, NY architects, designed a cave for art in Napa Valley hidden in the side of a mountain. The architecture of the cave is very distinguished, a cool and elegantly proportioned backdrop for the art, but powerful in its own right. Two understated portals, flanked by panels of Cor-Ten steel that will rust to near-invisibility in the landscape, lead, through smaller galleries, into (and out of) the 5,750-square-foot cave’s main space, which is 114 feet long, 27 feet wide and 23 feet high. A series of “pockets” were carved into the barrel vault of the ceiling to conceal fixtures that subtly wash the walls and artworks with an even light.
