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April 13, 2004
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Images courtesy Lincoln Center
For The Performing Arts |
New York’s Lincoln Center today
unveiled Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s design for its first
phase of redevelopment, sharing a futuristic image, infused
with mid-century modern, for its spaces around West 65th Street
in Manhattan. The performing arts center has re-dubbed the
area a new "Street of the Arts."
Plans, which have been conceived over
the last several months, include major renovations and expansions
of the area’s streetscape, public spaces, and virtually
all of its cultural facilities. Total cost is projected at
$325 million.
The redesign of 65th street itself will
include new transparent building facades, dramatic lighting,
narrowing of the street from three to two lanes, and the removal
of underground parking entrances. Enhancements to the North
Plaza public space will include a new sloping "campus
green" built on the roof of a restaurant, the enlargement,
sloping, and re-surfacing of the famous reflecting pool, and
a closely clipped bosque of trees, reminiscent of those in
many French gardens, next to the pool.
Facilities improvements include expansion
of The Julliard School, a redesign of Alice Tully Hall, a
completely new facility for the Film Society of Lincoln Center,
an expansion of the Lincoln Center Theater, and a redesign
of the Samuel B. and David Rose Building (including a new
glass entry and lobby).
The overall design concept, conceived
in collaboration with Fox and Fowle Architects, displays Diller
Scofidio + Renfro’s (formerly just Diller + Scofidio)
gift for maximizing transparency and fluidity in a context
that harkens to the classic modern style in which Lincoln
Center was built.
"There’s something really interesting,
even magical, about this 60’s architecture. We wanted
to amplify its most successful features and fulfill its unrealized
potential," said firm principal Elizabeth Diller. Added
Scofidio: "There’s a real history here. It shouldn’t
be erased."
Exceptional new design elements include
the North Plaza’s aforementioned roof garden, which cantilevers
over the street, in a "parabolic" shape; light "mats"
and LEDs set in the sidewalks; and Alice Tully Hall’s
new glass entrance, whose roof shoots skyward at an abrupt
angle and includes a donor facility that is suspended in glass
above the Hall’s inner lobby.
"It’s really amazing that they’ve
let us do all of this," Diller added, smiling.
The spaces around 65th street make up
one half of Lincoln Center’s total area. Designs for
the second phase of redevelopment, on Lincoln Center’s
south side (including the Metropolitan Opera and the Grand
Plaza) will likely be unveiled in about a year, said Diller
Scofidio + Renfro principal Ricardo Scofidio.
While Lincoln Center is now embarking
on a $325 million capital campaign to help pay for the project,
much of the funding will come from New York City. Facing potential
criticism of increasing expenditures on public projects, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg noted: "There will always be a reason
why not, but the bottom line is, if you study forever, you
do nothing."
Construction is expected to begin in
2006.
Sam
Lubell
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