An architect who designs so the art can shine

It turned out that the project wanted to be a factory loft, or, more accurately, a factory loft that was cleaned up and comfortable for habitation. Today, such residences are ubiquitous, but in the early '70s people were just beginning to rediscover the affinity between manufacturing buildings and modernist ideas.

Gluckman's historical importance, says Hal Foster, a Princeton University art history professor who has written a monograph on the architect, is that he transferred the unpolished loft aesthetic to the high-society milieu of the art gallery. The venue for displaying new art became barely distinguishable from the un-designed artists' studios where it was created.

"Gluckman understood that these artists were working in old industrial spaces. Those spaces became the unit of their work, determining the size of their pieces," Foster explained.

Serra had the most profound influence on him, Gluckman acknowledged. "I was privileged to be in a chapel with him in Spain, and hear him explain how the elliptical curve of the baroque arch influenced his work. We've had long discussions about how simple volumes are manipulated by the subtle shaping of planes."

Gluckman's epiphany about factory buildings occurred just as postmodernism's historically inspired decoration was in the ascendancy. His commitment to designing unadorned loft spaces kept him from dabbling in that cartoonish style, he says. It also helped him become the go-to architect for New York's art world. He has designed studios, lofts and solo exhibitions for numerous artists. Gluckman considers them his true architectural tutors.

With a background like that, it's no wonder he creates museums that put the art back on a pedestal.