Robert Kraus

Robert Kraus

  • Animation
  • Architecture
    • House
      • House (Photographic Essay by Richard Lewis Lee)
    • Proposal for Michael Kudish Natural History Preserve
    • Emerald Gallery
      • Site plan/description
      • Proposed new exhibition/performance building "A"
        • Renderings
        • Dodecahedron light fixture
      • Proposed new exhibition/performance space existing building "B"
        • Renderings
        • Models
    • Center for World Music and Dance
      • Columbia University GSAPP
        • Center for World Music and Dance (Columbia University GSAPP project 2002)
        • Fragile Cylinder (Columbia University GSAPP project 1999)
        • Public Surfaces (Columbia University GSAPP project 2001)
  • Art
    • Paintings 2010-2022
    • Paintings 1985-1999
    • Gardens
    • Pastoral
      • Barn Red
      • Watershed
      • Metropolis
      • Small, Medium, Large
  • Design/Fabrication
    • Shop
    • Digital Fabrication
  • Writing
    • Optical Correction
    • Seagram Building
  • Biography
  • Contact
  • Login

Emerald Gallery is an ongoing development of a 110-acre property in the Hudson Valley devoted to encouraging local creative activity and promoting the area as a cultural destination. It comprises environmentally sensitive existing and new proposed exhibition and performance spaces, as well as an active virtual presence.


Our first live performance took place on October 19, 1999, in the new main residential and gallery/ performance building, shortly before Covid 19 imposed restrictions on public gatherings. We are developing a flexible system of light weight bi-fold torsion boxes that hang from tracks installed in the clad built-up beams that resist lateral loads and divide the structure into 15 modules or “zones”. These allow us to exhibit works of art and other graphic information including research, and close private residential areas when necessary.


Design of a new building in a landscaped meadow that overlooks the existing new building is underway. The design was inspired by wood barn construction and the steep grade of the meadow. The steep slope affords an opportunity to incorporate outdoor seating for viewers of performances on a new stage.


The landscaping unifies the disparate elements of the design. The project also involves the development of a virtual component to promote local and international artists and performers. We have been developing detailed CAD models of the existing and new structures that can be used as backdrops for virtual wall-hung art and graphic and written information.