New York completes Ground Zero with the opening of Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX
14/09/2023.
[NYC] USA
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
New York City opened a new performing arts center in Lower Manhattan, two decades after the master plan for Ground Zero called for a cultural component there. The Perelman Performing Arts Center, known as PAC NYC was designed (following a 2014 international design competition) by architecture practice REX, led by Joshua Prince-Ramus, and is located between One World Trade Center (WTC) and Santiago Calatrava's Oculus, right in front of the museum and memorial dedicated to the victims of the attack.
With this new cultural center inaugurated at Ground Zero in New York, the process of urban reconstruction after the attacks of September 11, 2001, closed.
With this new cultural center inaugurated at Ground Zero in New York, the process of urban reconstruction after the attacks of September 11, 2001, closed.
Backlit against the striated stone, Ramus stands in the perimeter hallway that surrounds the theaters. Photograph by Simbarashe Cha.
Aerial of lower Manhattan including Perelman Performing Arts Center and 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Aerial of lower Manhattan including Perelman Performing Arts Center and 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Zuccotti Theater during load-in for first performances. Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Mechanical room. Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Perelman Performing Arts Center, Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson restaurant. Interior design by Rockwell Group. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Perelman Performing Arts Center, interior corridor on theater level, designed by REX.
Perelman Performing Arts Center, Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson restaurant. Interior design by Rockwell Group. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Architect Joshua Ramus of REX in a mechanical room at Manhattan’s new Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC). Photograph by Simbarashe Cha.
Designed by REX, the 12,000 sqm PAC NYC includes three flexible venues of different sizes. Using large movable walls and adjacent scene docks, these theaters can be combined or transformed into ten proportions and more than five dozen configurations.
Physically and acoustically, the performance spaces can accommodate a multiplicity of artistic disciplines (from intimate drama to dance to opera), creative visions, and experiences. A toolkit of automated and manual technical systems enables creative teams to transform the spaces to fulfill their desired artistic expressions and audience experiences.
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
The building is organized into three levels: play (top), performer (middle), and public (bottom). On the top level, three theater spaces (with 499, 250, and 99 seats) can be joined to create multiple different configurations, with the walls and floors moving to accommodate various events.
The middle level has all the support areas for artists and performances, such as the trap, dressing rooms, green room, musician room, quiet room, wig storage, and costume shop.
The bottom public level includes a lobby with an information desk and coat check and a restaurant/bar that can serve as a cabaret, a dance podium, a performance art space, or a community space for events such as voting. The restaurant/bar, used during performance intermissions, extends north to an exterior terrace.
The building is clad in 4,896 slabs of marble, each piece sandwiched in glass and measuring three feet by five feet. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
PAC NYC’s outside staircase brings patrons and visitors from the lobby down to the street below.
The building’s marble facade creates an elegant monolith by day; by night, the solid façade dematerializes and glows warmly from within. This transformative façade is composed of translucent, veined Portuguese marble (Estremoz Luminati) laminated on both sides with glass and fabricated into integrated, insulated panels. The stone-glass panels allow daylight to penetrate while upholding energy performance and protecting the marble from extreme weather conditions.
Zuccotti Theater during load-in for first performances. Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) is the cultural keystone and final public element in the 2003 Master Plan under the leadership of the New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg for the rebuilt 16-acre (6.5Hectare)World Trade Center site. Now chaired by Mr. Bloomberg.
Physically and acoustically, the performance spaces can accommodate a multiplicity of artistic disciplines (from intimate drama to dance to opera), creative visions, and experiences. A toolkit of automated and manual technical systems enables creative teams to transform the spaces to fulfill their desired artistic expressions and audience experiences.
Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
The building is organized into three levels: play (top), performer (middle), and public (bottom). On the top level, three theater spaces (with 499, 250, and 99 seats) can be joined to create multiple different configurations, with the walls and floors moving to accommodate various events.
The middle level has all the support areas for artists and performances, such as the trap, dressing rooms, green room, musician room, quiet room, wig storage, and costume shop.
The bottom public level includes a lobby with an information desk and coat check and a restaurant/bar that can serve as a cabaret, a dance podium, a performance art space, or a community space for events such as voting. The restaurant/bar, used during performance intermissions, extends north to an exterior terrace.
The building is clad in 4,896 slabs of marble, each piece sandwiched in glass and measuring three feet by five feet. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
PAC NYC’s outside staircase brings patrons and visitors from the lobby down to the street below.
The building’s marble facade creates an elegant monolith by day; by night, the solid façade dematerializes and glows warmly from within. This transformative façade is composed of translucent, veined Portuguese marble (Estremoz Luminati) laminated on both sides with glass and fabricated into integrated, insulated panels. The stone-glass panels allow daylight to penetrate while upholding energy performance and protecting the marble from extreme weather conditions.
Zuccotti Theater during load-in for first performances. Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) is the cultural keystone and final public element in the 2003 Master Plan under the leadership of the New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg for the rebuilt 16-acre (6.5Hectare)World Trade Center site. Now chaired by Mr. Bloomberg.
More information
Architects
REX. Lead architect.- Joshua Ramus, AIA, Founding Principal, Principal Designer Alysen Hiller Fiore, Assoc. AIA, Associate Principal, Project Leader Maur Dessauvage, RA, former Technical Director Adam Chizmar, AIA, Senior Associate Wanjiao Chen, Designer.
Collaborators
Construction manager.- Sciame Construction, LLC., Frank J. Sciame Jr., Joseph G. Mizzi.
Executive architect.- Davis Brody Bond, Carl F. Krebs, David K. Williams.
Theater designer.- Charcoalblue, Andy Hayles, Gavin Green, Jon Stevens.
Restaurant/Lobby Interior Architect.- Rockwell Group, David Rockwell.
Structural Engineers.- Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Leif Johnson, PE, SE, LEED AP. / Silman, Nat Oppenheimer, PE.
MEP, Fire Protection, IT and Security Engineer.- Jaros, Baum & Bolles, Richard J. Weindel, Ryan T. Stecher, Mark R. Torre.
Façade consultant.- Front, Marc Simmons.
Performance Acoustics and Vibration Isolation.- Threshold Acoustics, Carl P. Giegold FAIA, Rob Miller, Christopher Springthorpe, Laura Brill, Wilson Ihrig, Gary Glickman, Silas Bensing.
Architectural Lighting Designer.- Tillotson Design Associates, Suzan Tillotson, Erin Dreyfous.
Donor Recognition and Signage Designer.- Entro, Anna Crider.
Project Manager.- DBI Projects, Ofer Ohad, Jordan Learner Barr.
Executive architect.- Davis Brody Bond, Carl F. Krebs, David K. Williams.
Theater designer.- Charcoalblue, Andy Hayles, Gavin Green, Jon Stevens.
Restaurant/Lobby Interior Architect.- Rockwell Group, David Rockwell.
Structural Engineers.- Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Leif Johnson, PE, SE, LEED AP. / Silman, Nat Oppenheimer, PE.
MEP, Fire Protection, IT and Security Engineer.- Jaros, Baum & Bolles, Richard J. Weindel, Ryan T. Stecher, Mark R. Torre.
Façade consultant.- Front, Marc Simmons.
Performance Acoustics and Vibration Isolation.- Threshold Acoustics, Carl P. Giegold FAIA, Rob Miller, Christopher Springthorpe, Laura Brill, Wilson Ihrig, Gary Glickman, Silas Bensing.
Architectural Lighting Designer.- Tillotson Design Associates, Suzan Tillotson, Erin Dreyfous.
Donor Recognition and Signage Designer.- Entro, Anna Crider.
Project Manager.- DBI Projects, Ofer Ohad, Jordan Learner Barr.
Area
12,000 m² (129,000 sf).
Dates
2015: Commission awarded.
2017: Underground infrastructure begins.
2019: Construction begins.
2022: Façade completed.
2023: Opening.
2017: Underground infrastructure begins.
2019: Construction begins.
2022: Façade completed.
2023: Opening.
Location
251 Fulton Street, NY. USA.
PAC NYC is located on the World Trade Center campus, sited adjacent to One World Trade Center and across from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
PAC NYC is located on the World Trade Center campus, sited adjacent to One World Trade Center and across from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
Cost
$500 million. / €466 million.
Photography
Iwan Baan.
Joshua Prince-Ramus. REX
REX is an internationally acclaimed architecture firm in New York City led by Joshua Prince-Ramus. REX—whose name signifies a re-appraisal (RE) of architecture (X)—consistently challenges and advances building typologies, and promotes the agency of architecture. REX and Joshua's work has been recognized with the profession’s top accolades, including the 2015 Marcus Prize, bestowed upon architects “on a trajectory to greatness,” two American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Honor Awards, a U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology National Honor Award, an American Library Association National Building Award, and two American Council of Engineering Companies’ National Gold Awards.
Joshua Prince-Ramus is the founding principal and president of REX, where he leads the design of all projects. Joshua was the founding partner of OMA New York—the American affiliate of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture/Rem Koolhaas—until he rebranded that firm as REX in 2006. While REX was still known as OMA New York, Joshua was partner-in-charge of the Seattle Central Library and the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas, among many other cultural projects.
A former member of the TED Brain Trust, Joshua has shared REX’s design methodologies at the TED2006 and TEDxSMU conferences. He is the most recent recipient of the Marcus Prize, bestowed upon architects "on a trajectory to greatness.” Joshua has been credited as one of the “5 greatest architects under 50” by The Huffington Post, one of the world’s most influential young architects by Wallpaper*, and one of the twenty most influential players in design by Fast Company; he was also listed among “The 20 Essential Young Architects” by ICON magazine and featured as one of the “Best and Brightest” by Esquire magazine.
Joshua is a frequent contributor to architectural academia, convinced that—if architecture is to evolve—professionals have a responsibility to improve the profession from within. He has been Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University and Cullinan Visiting Professor at Rice University, and has been a visiting professor at Columbia University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Syracuse University. He lectures frequently at universities and symposiums around the world.
Joshua holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University, where he earned the inaugural Araldo Cossutta Fellowship and the SOM Fellowship, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with distinction in the major, magna cum laude, from Yale University. He is a registered architect in the U.S. and the Netherlands, and is NCARB certified.
Joshua Prince-Ramus is the founding principal and president of REX, where he leads the design of all projects. Joshua was the founding partner of OMA New York—the American affiliate of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture/Rem Koolhaas—until he rebranded that firm as REX in 2006. While REX was still known as OMA New York, Joshua was partner-in-charge of the Seattle Central Library and the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas, among many other cultural projects.
A former member of the TED Brain Trust, Joshua has shared REX’s design methodologies at the TED2006 and TEDxSMU conferences. He is the most recent recipient of the Marcus Prize, bestowed upon architects "on a trajectory to greatness.” Joshua has been credited as one of the “5 greatest architects under 50” by The Huffington Post, one of the world’s most influential young architects by Wallpaper*, and one of the twenty most influential players in design by Fast Company; he was also listed among “The 20 Essential Young Architects” by ICON magazine and featured as one of the “Best and Brightest” by Esquire magazine.
Joshua is a frequent contributor to architectural academia, convinced that—if architecture is to evolve—professionals have a responsibility to improve the profession from within. He has been Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University and Cullinan Visiting Professor at Rice University, and has been a visiting professor at Columbia University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Syracuse University. He lectures frequently at universities and symposiums around the world.
Joshua holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University, where he earned the inaugural Araldo Cossutta Fellowship and the SOM Fellowship, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with distinction in the major, magna cum laude, from Yale University. He is a registered architect in the U.S. and the Netherlands, and is NCARB certified.
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