Brown University’s new performing arts center, The Lindemann, designed by architecture studio REX, and founded by Joshua Ramus, has just opened yesterday 25 October 2023, at Brown University's campus, on Angell Street (a main artery on the city’s East Side), in Providence, Rhode Island. It stands between Brown's primary campus and Pembroke College, a women's college that merged with the primary campus in 1971.

The Lindemann a nearly industrial-looking silvery aluminum-clad box. A mysterious volume that is mostly blind, except for a glazed ribbon that slices dynamically through its fluted facades near the ground.

The center was created by the University to support all things experimental, forward-thinking, and cutting-edge in the arts; a state-of-the-art research laboratory that will stimulate new modes of art making, facilitating academic collaboration.
The enigmatic 23-meter-tall volume Lindemann is more than an arts venue, REX has completed the "most automated" performance building in the world. The brief for the project was to combine small performance spaces with student facilities and a home for the Brown University Orchestra.
 
"I feel like the building is a bit of a holy grail. It's achieved something that most people thought was impossible."
Joshua Ramus

To enter Lindemann, visitors ascend, under the Vierendeel truss supporting the cantilever, the gently sloped flight of stairs to the lobby. The room is an open field of 30 spaced columns. However, despite its modest scale, the space feels expansive, due to its floor-to-ceiling glazing, reflective polished concrete floor, and, in no small part, a site-specific installation by digital artist Leo Villareal. The non-repeating nature of the piece, called Infinite Composition, consists of LED panels mounted on the column-like struts, displaying flowing and shifting light patterns that dematerialize the space giving access to the changing performance space, where creativity will reign.

The  9,383-square-metre  (101,000 square-foot) structure of the Lindemann Performing Arts Center is a new type of facility where all six surfaces of its shoebox-shaped, with a long bridge-like walkway, main hall modulate physically and acoustically through automated performance equipment, that allow for different configurations. Moving walls, ceilings, balconies, catwalks, gantries, staging, and seating allow for the building to host both large and small concerts.

In this radically flexible yet extremely precise arts typology (the studio, worked with Brown Arts Institute (BAI)), a piece of vital research in the creation—and pedagogy—of groundbreaking art and artists.
 


Opening of Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.

Project description by REX

Brown University aspires to be a worldwide destination for students who want to fully integrate performing, visual, and literary arts into a complete liberal arts education. Implementing this aspiration, the Brown Arts Initiative (BAI) was created in 2017 to support all things experimental, forward-thinking, and cutting-edge in the arts; facilitate collaboration across arts departments and other academic fields; and engage activist artists and scholars whose work responds to contemporary issues.

Sited on The Walk (the campus’ main north-south pedestrian connector) in a locus of Brown arts venues, The Lindemann Performing Arts Center (The Lindemann) is the physical manifestation of BAI’s vision. Stitching together Brown’s original campus with Pembroke College—fully integrated with Brown in 1971—Brown PAC established a new campus center defined as an incubator for both traditional and experimental art and media.

BAI’s manifold users require a space with radical spatial, acoustic, and technical flexibility—transforming amongst Experimental Media, Recital, End Stage, and Flat Floor configurations—while maintaining intimacy (typically 350 audience members or smaller). However, Brown also lacks a dedicated performance space suitable for many medium and large ensembles that already exist across academic programs and student organizations. The Lindemann must meet these needs as well, most notably an Orchestra configuration for joint performances by Brown’s renowned 100-piece symphony orchestra and 80-singer chorus, with audiences of up to 625.

To house these five varied stage-audience configurations (and an array of potential secondary modes) within a single space, The Lindemann invents a new arts typology where all six surfaces of its shoebox-shaped main hall modulate physically and acoustically through automated and manually assisted performance equipment. These include (walls) five seating gantries and a perimeter ring of retractable acoustic curtains; (ceiling) forty adjustable acoustic reflector panels, seven motorized utility battens, and three lighting bridges; and (floor) two-stage lifts, three seating wagon lifts, and numerous stage risers and seating wagons. This equipment is augmented by professional touring grade amplification, multi-channel ‘ambisonic’ audio, immersive video and scenic projection, and a full complement of fixed lighting.


Opening of Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.

- Experimental Media configuration, supporting experimental performances, seminars, standing concerts, and cabarets.
- 350-seat Recital configuration, supporting soloists, small ensembles, and chamber orchestras.
- 250-seat End Stage configuration, supporting dance, drama, musicals, opera, video, and lectures.
- 625-seat Orchestra configuration, with the ability to add an 80-singer chorus.
- Flat Floor configuration, supporting all forms of arts and campus-wide events.

Embodying Brown’s commitment to infusing the arts into all intellectual pursuits, a ‘Clearstory’ slices through the entire building at stage level, allowing—when desired—performances, rehearsals, and research to spill out onto campus, and for the university at large to vicariously engage the constant creation of art. Light can be completely blocked by a perimeter drape.

The Clearstory establishes the stage-level acoustic volume with a rectilinear glass enclosure of 50 mm laminated, frameless glazing, the mass of which provides a warm, full-frequency reflection of musical sound. A second, inner line of similarly detailed glass arcs (suspended from, and moving with, the gantries) are shaped to distribute sound throughout the stage and audience areas. Openings between the arcs allow a portion of the sound to escape into the void beyond, helping to control loudness while sufficiently containing acoustic energy for an engaging, immersive experience.

Scrims and blackouts can be installed inboard of the glass arcs to negate interior reflections, or to create visually-controlled circulation within the acoustic volume for performers, stagehands, and patrons.


Opening of Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University by REX. Photograph by Iwan Baan.

For The Lindemann to provide appropriate lobby space and engage its surroundings, the Clearstory is expanded on three of its four sides. On the east, facing the Perry & Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, the Clearstory cantilevers 35 feet towards The Walk, forming a dramatic main lobby with views over campus. The cantilever protects the main entrance and its tribune, used for outdoor performances, student orientations, and other informal uses. On the south, the Clearstory extends 7 feet to form the Promenade, a passerelle to view the creation of art. On the west, the Clearstory cantilevers 14 feet to make an assembly area for performers prior to entering the main hall.

In addition to the main hall, the building contains three additional venues, organized below grade due to height and plan restrictions on site, including an orchestra rehearsal room, doubling as a 165-seat performance space for smaller ensembles; a dance rehearsal room, doubling as a 110-seat informal dance performance space; and a theater rehearsal, doubling as a 50-seat small performance space. Each of these spaces has a pipe grid and connection points on the walls for lighting, audio, and video technology.

The Lindemann’s main volume is shrink-wrapped in an extruded aluminum rainscreen, composed of a fractal-like fluted geometry. The multiple scales of the flutes, and their bas relief, are a subtle nod to Providence’s predominantly brick and wood-clad building stock, where flat glass or metal panel facades seem anathema.

The Lindemann is a ‘new animal,’ a radically flexible yet extremely precise arts typology where performance is not the final product, but another piece of vital research in the creation—and pedagogy—of groundbreaking art and arts leaders.

More information

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Architects
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REX. Principal in charge.- Joshua Ramus. Project leader.- Adam Chizmar.
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Project team
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Tim Carey, Adam Chizmar (PL), Maur Dessauvage, Alvaro Gomez-Selles, Kelvin Ho, Sebastian Hofmeister (PL), Lara Isaac, Nicolas Lee, Alfonso Simelio Jurado, Kelsey Olafson, Joshua Ramus, Davis Richardson, Raúl Rodríguez García, Anne Strüwing, Kevin Thomas (PL), Matthew Uselman, Teng Xing.
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Collaborators
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Structural engineer of record.- Odeh
Consulting structural engineer.- Magnusson Klemencic.
MEP.- Arup.
Sustainability.- Atelier Ten.
Façades.- Front.
Theater design/stage equipment.- Theatre Projects
Acoustical/AV.- Threshold Acoustics (project's acoustics and audio/video consultant responsible for the room acoustics, noise and vibration control, acoustic isolation between rooms, and audio/video design).
Vibration (sub consultant).- Acentech.
Lighting.- L’Observatoire International.
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Client
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Brown University.
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Contractor
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Shawmut Design & Construction.
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Area
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GFA.- 11,000 m². (118,000 p²).
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Dates
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Commenced construction.- 2019.
Completion.- October 2023.
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Location
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130 Angell Street. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. USA (Coordinates: 41.82817°N 71.40250°W).
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Manufacturers
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Aluminum Rainscreen.- Roschmann Group.
Interior Glazing.- Vitro, Safti First, AGC Interpane.
Metal Doors.- Assa Abloy.
Sound Reflector Panels.- Kinetics.
Lighting.- Reflex Lighting, Lucifer Lighting, USAI, B-K Lighting, XAL. USA, BEGA, PureEdge Lighting, Ecosense Lighting.
High-Impact Wallboard: National Gypsum.
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Photography
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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.
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