The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center has officially been revealed and will mark the final building to be added to the World Trade Center campus. The Perelman, named for billionaire Ronald Perelman thanks to his $75 million charitable donation, comes from REX, a Brooklyn-based architecture firm that won a competition for the opportunity to design the building back in November 2015.
The building may have the appearance of a large, solid marble cube that forgoes windows and any opportunity for natural light in order to provide the dark spaces required for a performing arts center, but looks can be deceiving.
The Perelman will allow natural light to penetrate its walls as the façade will be primarily made up of book-matched marble cut so thin it is translucent. During the day natural light will flow into the interior space, and at night light can escape, causing the building to emit a warm glow. Blackout shades will be used when necessary to block any incoming light.
According to Curbed, REX has proposed to obtain the marble, which will be laminated between two pieces of insulated glass, from the same quarry that the marble for the Supreme Court building and Thomas Jefferson Memorial was taken from.
The building’s interior is all about flexibility. There will be three performance spaces and seven movable acoustic walls that allow for 11 different configurations across the building’s 90,000-sf layout. The three auditoriums will vary in size, with the ability to hold 499, 250, and 99 people.
The building is expected to cost $250 million to build, $175 million of which has already been raised. The remaining funds will be raised through private donations with no money for the project coming directly from the city or state.
2020 has been earmarked as the building’s completion date.
You can watch a video showcasing the center and its flexibility below.
Rendering courtesy of Luxigon
Rendering courtesy of Luxigon
Rendering courtesy of Luxigon
Rendering courtesy of Luxigon
Related Stories
| May 7, 2013
Renovated bridge building will anchor Nashville riverfront master plan
Renovations to the former Nashville Bridge Company building were recently completed, including a newly-built modern wing. The facility has been re-dubbed The Bridge Building and now offers spaces for meetings, parties, weddings, and other events.
| Apr 30, 2013
Tips for designing with fire rated glass - AIA/CES course
Kate Steel of Steel Consulting Services offers tips and advice for choosing the correct code-compliant glazing product for every fire-rated application. This BD+C University class is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Apr 26, 2013
BIG tapped to design Europa City in suburban Paris
Danish architecture firm, BIG - led by Bjarke Ingels – has been announced as the winner of an international invited competition for the design of Europa City, a 800,000 square meter cultural, recreational and retail development in Triangle de Gonesse, France.
| Apr 26, 2013
Documentary shows 'starchitects' competing for museum project
"The Competition," a new documentary produced by Angel Borrego Cuberto of Madrid, focuses on the efforts of five 'starchitects' to capture the design contract for the new National Museum of Art of Andorra: a small country in the Pyrenees between Spain and France.
| Apr 24, 2013
Los Angeles may add cool roofs to its building code
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants cool roofs added to the city’s building code. He is also asking the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to create incentives that make it financially attractive for homeowners to install cool roofs.
| Apr 23, 2013
Architects to MoMA: Don't destroy Williams/Tsien project
Richard Meier, Thom Mayne, Steven Holl, Hugh Hardy and Robert A.M. Stern are among the prominent architects who on Monday called for the Museum of Modern Art to reconsider its decision to demolish the former home of the American Folk Art Museum.
| Apr 19, 2013
Must see: Shell of gutted church on stilts, 40 feet off the ground
Construction crews are going to extremes to save the ornate brick façade of the Provo (Utah) Tabernacle temple, which was ravaged by a fire in December 2010.
| Apr 17, 2013
First look: Renzo Piano's glass-domed motion pictures museum
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week released preliminary plans for its $300 million Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences museum in Los Angeles, designed by Renzo Piano and local architect Zoltan Pali.
| Apr 16, 2013
5 projects that profited from insulated metal panels
From an orchid-shaped visitor center to California’s largest public works project, each of these projects benefited from IMP technology.
