Heatherwick Studio to lead US$500m redesign of New York concert hall
Following a two-year competition involving more than 100 leading architecture and design firms, Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects have been selected to reimagine and renovate a concert hall for New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
The duo have been tasked with transforming the centre’s largest hall – originally designed by Max Abramovitz and opened in 1962 – into a 21st-century symphonic concert venue “where the architecture is at one with music”.
The building will be the home of the acclaimed New York Philharmonic Orchestra and will host performances from world-class artists. It will also provide space for community workshops and events and provide a permanent location for Legends at Lincoln Center: the Performing Arts Hall of Fame.
Construction is expected to begin in 2019 at an estimated preliminary cost of US$500m (€454m, £330m). Acoustic design firm Akustiks and theatre designers Fisher Dachs are also involved in the project.
“The New York Philharmonic creates some of the most incredible music in the world, so it deserves a world-class concert hall,” said Thomas Heatherwick, founder and principal of Heatherwick Studio.
“Together with Diamond Schmitt Architects, we are excited to make this special institution and its classical music even more connected to New Yorkers and the audiences of the future.”
Donald Schmitt, principal of Diamond Schmitt Architects, added: “We will design the new hall to become a crossroads of performance, rehearsal, learning and arts innovation, creating a welcoming atmosphere for the public.”
Lincoln Center chair Katherine Farley said: "The inspiring combination of Heatherwick and Diamond Schmitt will bring contemporary design excellence, respect for the historic architecture of the hall, and extensive experience creating acoustically superb performance halls.”
The hall has been criticised in the past by music critics for its poor acoustics and lack of atmosphere. Plans to redevelop the venue have been mooted since 2002, when Foster + Partners won a competition to lead the renovation, but have never been realised.
To help raise money for the latest project, the Lincoln Center auctioned the naming rights for the venue – which had been called the Avery Fisher Hall since the 1970s after one of the centre’s benefactors. Music and media executive David Geffen donated US$100m (€90.8m, £66m), and the venue now carries his name. Local reports claim the Fisher family were paid US$15m (€13.6m, £9.9m) in compensation.
Ongoing Heatherwick Studio projects include two mixed-use developments in Shanghai and a major retail quarter in King’s Cross, London. It is also designing Pier 55 – a US$170m (€154m, £112m) floating park on the Hudson River.
Diamond Schmitt Architects has designed more than forty performing arts venues worldwide, including the New Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Maison Symphonique de Montréal in Canada. The firm is currently designing the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts & Science in Lubbock, Texas.
First details emerge of Thomas Heatherwick's King's Cross regeneration project
Heatherwick to design New York's 'Pier 55'
FEATURE: Visitor Attractions – Spirit Maker
Europe's premier Evian Spa unveiled at Hôtel Royal in France
Clinique La Prairie unveils health resort in China after two-year project
GoCo Health Innovation City in Sweden plans to lead the world in delivering wellness and new science
Four Seasons announces luxury wellness resort and residences at Amaala
Aman sister brand Janu debuts in Tokyo with four-floor urban wellness retreat
€38m geothermal spa and leisure centre to revitalise Croatian city of Bjelovar
Two Santani eco-friendly wellness resorts coming to Oman, partnered with Omran Group
Kerzner shows confidence in its Siro wellness hotel concept, revealing plans to open 100
Ritz-Carlton, Portland unveils skyline spa inspired by unfolding petals of a rose
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners are just one of the names behind The Emory hotel London and Surrenne private members club
Peninsula Hot Springs unveils AUS$11.7m sister site in Australian outback
IWBI creates WELL for residential programme to inspire healthy living environments
Conrad Orlando unveils water-inspired spa oasis amid billion-dollar Evermore Resort complex
Studio A+ realises striking urban hot springs retreat in China's Shanxi Province
Populous reveals plans for major e-sports arena in Saudi Arabia
Wake The Tiger launches new 1,000sq m expansion
Othership CEO envisions its urban bathhouses in every city in North America
Merlin teams up with Hasbro and Lego to create Peppa Pig experiences
SHA Wellness unveils highly-anticipated Mexico outpost
One&Only One Za’abeel opens in Dubai featuring striking design by Nikken Sekkei
Luxury spa hotel, Calcot Manor, creates new Grain Store health club
'World's largest' indoor ski centre by 10 Design slated to open in 2025
Murrayshall Country Estate awarded planning permission for multi-million-pound spa and leisure centre
Aman's Janu hotel by Pelli Clarke & Partners will have 4,000sq m of wellness space
Therme Group confirms Incheon Golden Harbor location for South Korean wellbeing resort
Universal Studios eyes the UK for first European resort
King of Bhutan unveils masterplan for Mindfulness City, designed by BIG, Arup and Cistri
Rural locations are the next frontier for expansion for the health club sector
Tonik Associates designs new suburban model for high-end Third Space health and wellness club
Aman sister brand Janu launching in Tokyo in 2024 with design by Denniston's Jean-Michel Gathy
From parks designed to mitigate the effects of flooding to warming huts for one of the world’s coldest cities, these projects have been designed for increasingly extreme climates