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Check Out The Dazzling New Renderings For The Performing Arts Venue Coming To WTC
By
Gaby Del Valle
Published Sep 9, 2016
Modified Sep 9, 2016
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By
Gaby Del Valle
Published Sep 9, 2016
Modified Sep 9, 2016
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After years of contention and ever-changing plans, the final design for the World Trade Center for Performing Arts has been released—and the REX-designed building looks nothing like Frank Gerhy's initial idea for the site, which was scrapped in 2014 after the famous architect’s design, which was deemed too "complicated" and expensive to build, led to his being ousted from the project.
The design for the building, which will be the final World Trade Center structure to be constructed and is expected to open in 2020, was unveiled yesterday afternoon by World Trade Center master planner Daniel Libeskind, developer Larry Silverstein, architect Joshua Prince-Ramus, and the Performing Arts Center's president and director Maggie Boepple. The building has been dubbed the Perelman Center after a $75 million charitable donation from billionaire Robert Perelman, Curbed reports.
"This is a building that is dedicated to the production and premiering of unique, original pieces of art," Prince-Ramus said yesterday before unveiling the design. "It's also a very important piece of new civic infrastructure for lower Manhattan, and both of these come with an incredible amount of vitality and energy. We must figure out an appropriate way for this energy to exist directly adjacent to the single most important memorial on U.S. soil."
The 90,000-square-foot building isn't quite a cube—it's more like an off-center box—with a façade made almost entirely of thinly-cut marble, which will allow light to come in during the day and to pour out at night. REX proposes sourcing the marble from the same Vermont quarry that was used for the Jefferson Memorial and the Supreme Court. The marble will be laminated between two insulated pieces of glass that will protect the building and make it energy-efficient.
At the unveiling ceremony, Prince-Ramus stressed the building's intentionally versatile design: the building's production level will have three performance spaces, with seven movable acoustic walls that allow for 11 different configurations ranging from small shows to large concerts that can seat up to 1,200 people.
Barbra Streisand, who will serve as the Perelman's chairman, said in a statement that she hopes the building will "vibrate with theater, music, dance, and film, and bring life to this hallowed ground."
Although the center partially serves as a memorial, it's also a symbol of the neighborhood's post-9/11 revitalization.
"I recognize how far we've come in the past 15 years and the transformation downtown is really sort of remarkable," Silverstein said. "I remember what this was like before 9/11, and on a weekend you could roll a bowling ball down the middle of Wall Street."
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perelman center
world trade center
world trade center for the performing arts
Gaby Del Valle
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