Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Bethel, N.Y.
Westlake Reed Leskosky

The hills are alive with music at Woodstock again

	Index | Project Specs
	Click here for slide show. Photo © Kevin Reeves

The word conjures images of an entire generation: Woodstock. In August 1969, half-a-million hippies descended on a 37-acre farm in Sullivan County, N.Y., for a muddy, muddled weekend of music—a high point, no pun intended, of the decade’s rock festivals and happenings. Flash forward to today and the original site has been transformed into the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Set within nearly 1,700 acres of unspoiled countryside, Bethel Woods preserves the iconic Woodstock concert site on the historic Yasgur farm and creates a new, vibrant cultural destination. The center features a long-span, 4,800-seat pavilion with additional lawn seating for 12,000 people; a 700-seat open-air amphitheatre; an interpretive center including 10,000 square feet of permanent exhibition space and 7,500 square feet for traveling exhibitions; a 4,500-square-foot multipurpose events gallery; two multipurpose market sheds; concessions and support facilities.

Preserving a sense of place and history, architect Westlake Reed Leskosky employed an agrarian vernacular consistent with the site’s bucolic context. Buildings in the campus-like setting vary in their mass and scale, but their all-natural materials palette of copper, stone, and cedar embodies the region’s traditional vernacular.

The plan preserves the original festival site with new construction placed on a plateau. Structures nestle into woodlands and new landscape, woven with a system of water features, plantings, and paths. Sustainable design features include the utilization of local materials and craftsmen to the greatest extent possible. Trails throughout the site feature interpretive signage to guide visitors.

Subscribe to Architectural Record in print, or get Architectural Record digitally

Formal name of Project:
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Location:
Bethel, N.Y.

Gross square footage:
127,166 sq. ft.

Total project cost:
$70 million

Owner:
Gerry Foundation
Alan Gerry, Chairman

Architect:
Westlake Reed Leskosky
925 Euclid Ave., Suite 1900
Cleveland, OH 44115-1407
216-522-1350 tel.
216-522-1357 fax
www.WRLdesign.com

Click here to see all the people and products behind this project