The final public element for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center complex in New York City is a performing arts center that’s expected to open next September. That month will also mark the one-year anniversary of the opening of an adaptive reuse which converted what once was a greenhouse in Tarrytown, N.Y., into a flexible, 8,000-sf performance and rehearsal space, artists’ gallery and studio.
The architecture firm REX, working in collaboration with executive architect Davis Brody Bond, theater consultant Charcoalblue, and Threshold Acoustics, designed the eight-story, 138-foot-tall Perelman Performing Arts Center, located in lower Manhattan. The 129,000-sf cube-shaped PAC will provide new spaces for theater, dance, music, chamber opera, film, and media events.
Its three theaters—the John A. Zuccotti Theater, that can accommodate 450 seats; the Mike Nichols Theater, with a 250-seat capacity; and the Doris Duke Theater, which can have up to 99 seats—can be adjusted or combined into 10 different configurations.
![A rendering of the Zuccotti Theater in the Perelman Performing Arts Center.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/PERELMAN_Zuccotti%20Theater%20in%20the%20round%20Rendering_credit%20REX_1.jpg)
The PAC will be adjacent to the World Trade Center Oculus and Transportation Hub. Because it is being built over an existing subway and rail complex, the project’s structural engineer Magnusson Klemencic Associates devised a system that would support that building’s mass, consisting of seven mega columns through the existing infrastructure that hold aloft a belt-truss structure within which the PAC’s auditoria “float.”
The building’s exterior is wrapped with nearly 5,000 5x3-ft marble panels from Portugal, each weighing 295 lbs. (Front is the façade consultant.) Inside, the PAC is organized into three levels: a public level accessible by grand staircase or elevator that encompasses the lobby concourse and stage; an “artists” level with dressing rooms, green rooms, and wardrobe areas; and a “play” level for the three theaters and rehearsal space.
![A rendering of the PAC's restaurant](/sites/default/files/inline-images/PERELMAN_Restaurant%20Rendering_Credit%20Rockwell%20Group.png)
Rockwell Group designed the building’s lobby and restaurant concept restaurant. The project’s estimated cost is $500 million. Its building team includes Sciame (CM), ARUP (circulation consultant), Atelier Ten (sustainability consultant), and Wilson Ihrig (noise and vibration consultant)
From greenhouse to green performing arts center
![The exterior of the David Rockefeller Cultural Arts Center](/sites/default/files/inline-images/18040-P-014-DS-SouthDetail.jpg)
Pocantico Center, the 216-acre former Rockefeller family estate in Tarrytown, housed John D. Rockefeller’s historic Orangerie, an orange tree greenhouse with 26-ft-high ceilings, that was opened in 1906.
The Orangerie had long been dormant when the Rockefeller Brothers Fund hired the architecture firm FXCollaborative to rehabilitate the building into a multidisciplinary arts center that would also be a model for sustainable design, and inclusion.
This adaptive reuse, now called the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center, “is rooted in supporting the creative process across artistic disciplines,” said Brandon Massey, AIA, LEED GA, Senior Associate at FXCollaborative, in a prepared statement. This renovation, at a cost of $26 million, was completed within the guidelines of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Li Salzman Architects was the project’s historic preservation consultant.)
![Large windows and skylights let natural light into the Center's gallery. The facility also includes space for rehearsals and performances below).](/sites/default/files/inline-images/18040-P-019-DS-Gallery.jpg)
The reno added concrete slab flooring and sectioned off different areas of the building’s interior for specific performance or installation spaces. The building team added stage and rehearsal studios that can pivot 90 degrees. Also added were 40-ft-wide doors in the back of the building.
The design and construction aspired the building to achieve net-zero energy performance and LEED Platinum certification. The building’s green features include energy efficient windows, solar panels, and rainwater recapture.
![Solar arrays contribute to the building's energy efficiency.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/18040-P-015-DS-SouthDetail.jpg)
The building team on this project included York Construction Corp (CM), Silman Structural Engineers (SE), Langan Engineering (CE), Altieri Sebor Wieber (MEP/FP), and Envoie Projects (owner’s rep.).
Related Stories
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Construction Management Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, Barton Malow, Hill International top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest construction management and project management firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Contractors [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest contractors in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.