The transformation of Lincoln Center begins with the renovation of Alice Tully Hall
Lincoln Center is undergoing a profound transformation. This is not news to anyone who, in the last year, has tried to negotiate the plaza, which has been overrun by a bewildering maze of narrow walkways bordered by construction-site walls. Behind those walls, however, big things are happening.
Despite its status as a New York icon—and despite the affection most New Yorkers feel for it, Lincoln Center has sometimes been characterized as a pale, aloof temple of the arts casting an unfriendly face to those not in the city's elite. Critics describe it a complex of elegant, but chilly, structures placed on an elevated perch that removes it from the street life of the city. In the last decade, as the buildings have begun to age visibly, a number of master plans for an overall renovation have been proposed and discarded. (A book could be written about the political intrigue and fanciful concepts that were involved. Among other things, Frank Gehry, the architect, proposed putting the main plaza under a giant glass dome.)
What emerged from these discussions was a streamlined master plan that involved redoing the Juilliard School and Alice Tully Hall, along with a significant re-envisioning of the outdoor areas that link Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Theatre Company, the Metropolitan Opera, and David H. Koch Theatre, formerly the New York State Theatre, home to New York City Opera and New York City Ballet. (In a separate series of developments, the David H. Koch Theatre has undergone a renovation, to make it friendlier for both ballet and opera.)
To date, the $900-million project, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in association with FXFOWLE Architects, has resulted in the renovation of Alice Tully Hall and a dramatic new take on the Juilliard School building. In addition, the front entrance to Lincoln Center will be dramatically reworked, making pedestrian access easier and linking the entire complex more closely to the neighborhood. The North Plaza will get a grove of trees and a restaurant; the latter, with its unique sloped design, will be topped by a public lawn. The masonry of the plaza's pavement will be restored. The public fountain has been redesigned. Three new venues will be added for the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Also, dozens of electronic information boards will provide realtime updates about shows and ticket availability. And the nearby Harmony Atrium, located between West 62nd and 63rd Streets on Broadway, will be renovated by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, in collaboration with Michael Bierut of Pentagram; this will be a public space that offers information and discount ticketing for Lincoln Center's resident organizations; it will also provide a space for free performances.
The first step in this multi-year plan, which will be completed in time for Lincoln Center's 50th anniversary, to be celebrated in 2010, was the addition of new studios for the School of American Ballet, in 2007; the full Juilliard project will be finished in 2010. However, the first major component, the renovation of Alice Tully Hall, was completed last spring, and it was met widespread acclaim. As Paul Goldberg, the architecture critic of The New Yorker notes, the project "shows how much richness and complexity can be teased out of the modernist vocabulary in the right hands."
Up from Brutalism
When it came to rethinking Alice Tully Hall, there was much work to do. The theatre is located in the same building that houses the Juilliard School and the School of the American Ballet. Designed by Pietro Belluschi, a leading Modernist of the postwar period, it was enormous, boxy structure that hung precariously over 65th Street. Many have noted that the building's Brutalist style was compromised by the use of travertine marble—the official surface material of Lincoln Center—for the exterior. Thanks to the terraces jutting out from the building, the entrance to Alice Tully Hall wasn't instantly visible from the street. (According to Goldberger, the terrace only existed because the original architects insisted on making a rectangular building on a trapezoidal space.) Passing through its doors, one stepped down into a fairly drab and not especially spacious lobby. However it may have seemed four decades ago, the auditorium, with its walls of ribbed wood, grew increasingly glamourless with the years. Also, on the exterior, a bridge designed to link the Juilliard building to the larger complex cast dark shadows on the street, turning the side entrance to a major cultural center into a good place for a mugging.
In a series of strategic gestures, Diller Scofidio + Renfro have turned the building's debits to their advantage, in essence peeling open the box to create a light and airy atrium that, in addition to serving attendees at Alice Tully Hall, gives the city another inviting public space— both indoors and out. Working with the theatre consultants Fisher Dachs and acousticians JaffeHolden, the interior of Alice Tully Hall now shimmers with elegance—and its technology has been brought up to date. (This project cost $159 million.)
The achievement is all the more remarkable when you realize the restrictions that were imposed on the team, leaving them with little or no room to maneuver. As Joshua Dachs, of Fisher Dachs, notes, "There was an upper limit to where we could go, because of the Juilliard expansion above. There's the original Juilliard to the west. Below us was bedrock. We had all sorts of subway issues, because the No. 1 train passes with a few feet of the concert hall." Peter Rosenbaum, of Fisher Dachs, adds, "Every time we opened a wall, it didn't match the original drawings. We ended up with a smaller envelope for all our lighting and rigging gear." Nevertheless, room had to be found for new and improved amenities such as dressing rooms and other support spaces. Liz Diller, the architect, has said that the project, with all its limitations, consisted of working magic "in 18 inches."
"The challenge involves working in a sensitive way with an existing building," noted Diller at a press event for the Tully renovation. "The original criticism of Lincoln Center is that it was put on a pedestal, removed from the city. We wanted to do something transformative, to reposition it in the life of the city."
Indeed, many have noted that Diller and her colleagues made a surgical strike against the building's exterior, shearing away the blocky overhanging terrace and connecting bridge to open up space for a soaring three-story glass curtain wall, which is framed by the canopy of a new cantilevered extension to Juilliard resting just above. A building that once presented a forbidding face to the street is now a model of openness; in addition to a brightly lit lobby that is filled with people from the early morning hours until late at night, one looks up and sees students taking part in dance classes, thanks to the addition of floor-to ceiling windows. Outside, on the corner, there is a set of steps that serves as a meeting place or a spot to have lunch or read a book. The bridge has been removed, opening up the street to the sun once again.
One now enters Alice Tully Hall from Broadway, walking into an outer lobby—the Grand Foyer—which has been dramatically expanded, from 701 sq. ft. to 6,161 sq. ft.; it contains the restaurant at65, which is open to the public from breakfast onwards, and also offers a full bar. Also found there is the Hauser Patron Salon, an elevated mezzanine-level donor room that overlooks the Grand Foyer; it features its own bar and concession area and can handle receptions for up to 140 people. The inner lobby, now called the Morgan Stanley Lobby, has also been expanded, from 5,157 to 9,468 sq. ft. Again, the space has been opened up with the addition of a glass curtain wall on the lobby's southern face, providing concertgoers with uninterrupted views of West 65th Street. The most distinctive material featured in both lobbies is muirapiranga, or bloodwood, which wraps the interior walls in a tongue-and groove format. The flooring in both rooms consists of Portuguese Azul Atajia limestone.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro's work on the exterior and lobbies provides the key to the firm's vision for Lincoln Center. The approach is twofold—first to open up the buildings to sun, light, and air, and also to carve out public spaces wherever possible. In doing so, Lincoln Center is being made into an urban oasis where one can stop by for lunch, a drink, to meet a friend, or, in the good weather, simply to relax outside with a book and cup of coffee. The architects have caught the mood of New York at a moment when the entire city seems to be opening up to the public in ways rarely seen before. (Other examples of this trend include the transformation of much of Times Square into a pedestrian district, and the opening of the High Line, the former elevated railway, into a walkway—a development that has spurred the commercial development of the West Village.) The effect has been to make Alice Tully Hall, as it enters into its fifth decade, a much livelier place.
The luminous interior
Inside the auditorium, the mandate was to create a visually and aurally alluring interior, with improved technical capabilities and new performer amenities, but without changing the room's existing footprint. The result has been achieved by considerable sleight-of-hand, the result of an unusually intertwined collaboration between Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Fisher Dachs, and JaffeHolden. "Everything you see in the room is a collaborative process between us and the architects and the theatre consultants," says Holden. "This triumvirate created every surface, every material. It was very challenging and exciting—the toughest project I've every worked on."
Perhaps the biggest challenge posed by the hall is the fact that it plays so many roles. It is, of course, home to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. But it is also hosts the New York Film Festival each October. In addition, the space is used for many corporate events, especially network upfront presentations, in which new television shows are presented to advertising agencies. The design team was required to make the space viable for theatre and dance as well. "There was no shortage of constituents on this project," notes Dachs, wryly, "and all the user groups cared deeply about the outcome." Opinions differ about the acoustical quality of the original hall—Holden says it was a "good, B-minus hall," although some music critics think it was both better and worse than that. Holden adds that the mandate was to do no harm, acoustically, and make modest improvements where possible.
As you enter the auditorium, you are immediately struck by the undulating interior of Moabi wood; wrapping the in a remarkably complex pattern. The effect of the wood is so warm and seamless that is like sitting inside a musical instrument. Astonishingly, the veneer was harvested from a single, 40' tree in Gabon and transferred to Japan where it was sliced and heat-bonded to resin panels.
Holden says he worked with the architects to "optimize the surface acoustically, making the sound significantly more clear and present. This was achieved through shaping and restructuring the interior skin." With the wood's many twists and folds, the walls now "reflect sound in the appropriate frequency response and in the right direction," he says. A distinctive feature of the upstage wall is an array of dots—they are large in the center and grow smaller as they fan out in a pattern that is suggestive of pop art. These are "conical sound diffusers," says Holden. "They mellow some of the harshness and brightness that might occur from a flat upstage wall."
The most unusual feature of the walls, however, is a visual one. At key points in the room the Moabi veneer is backed by Philips Color Kinetics ColorGraze LED units. The veneer in these places is sufficiently thin so as to be translucent. As the lights are dimmed, signaling the beginning of a performance, the LEDs come on, creating a red-orange glow for a few moments. This fades, and the stage lights come on. It's a kind of bridge moment between everyday reality and the start of the performance.
There are other acoustical features, Holden notes. "The side walls of the stages rotate and spin, and on the back side of each is black sound-absorptive material. These are, in effect, tormentors, and they're used for film screenings and other amplified productions." The upstage wall also contains six doors which open up to reveal the Tully's pipe organ—which is due to be installed this coming summer.
Of course, Holden and his team worked to effectively isolate the room from the outside world. To deal with subway noise, the Metropolitan Transit Authority was persuaded to weld down the nearby train tracks, which are only 20-30' away from the auditorium; rubber pads were also added under the rails, to eliminate extra vibrations. The HVAC system was improved, with all air supply and return happening from above. Acoustical-isolation doors were added to the auditorium. And, Holden, notes, "As you step down through the side galleries that are adjacent to the auditorium, you see that we replaced all the surfaces—the walls and ceiling—with a gray felt. It's 1.5" thick, in an interesting overlapping pattern. There's also a gray matching carpet. It creates a zone that is very sound-absorptive." Indeed, he notes, one undergoes a kind of acoustical order of events as one enters the hall from the outside. "You move from the outside lobby, which is bright and reverberant, into the inner lobby, which is quieter, then into one of the galleries, which is very quiet, and then into the hall. It's a procession designed to give a sense of surprise to the ear."
In order to make the space suitable for various types of events— especially for film—a set of acouStac banners, from Pook Diemont & Ohl, were installed. The banners weigh 1,300lbs, and are able to travel 150' per minute. There are 18 acouStacs of variable lengths lining the hall's side walls; you can see the slots where they are contained in the photo on page 96. "If you spin around the side walls onstage and drop these banners, you have a very good room for film," says Holden.
Barbara Pook, of PDO, notes that the installation of the acouStacs was a complicated project because of the necessary coordination with the walls' 3-D surfaces, which evolved long into the construction phase; the extremely tight tolerances; and the blend of old and new structure overhead. The acouStacs, she adds, are made of black wool serge; the product can also be made from velour if the client wishes. The house curtain is approximately 55' wide by 35' high', the largest acouStac ever built.
A more workable stage
The Fisher Dachs team worked with the others to incorporate the acoustical improvements into a room that also contained a number of significant technical upgrades. "All of the original infrastructure over the stage went away to make way for the new mechanical ductwork," says Rosenbaum, "but we were able to retain two catwalks to provide front-of- house lighting positions." Added to the stage system were 25 motorized axes for lineshaft hoists, electrics battens, reflectors, masking battens, and a motion-picture screen. With these, the stage can be configured for any number of events. Pook Diemont & Ohl provided and installed all of the rigging elements, as well their control system.
Many of these improvements are long overdue. Amazingly, Dachs notes that, before the renovation, the installation of the motion picture screen was an all-day affair, involving dozens of springs attached to grommets on the screen, which were then attached to hooks embedded in the upstage wall. "Then they had to hang masking," he adds. Now the screen rolls down automatically, as does the necessary masking.
Also, says Rosenbaum, the auditorium previously had one moving lift, controlled by hydraulics. The Fisher Dachs team decided that two lifts were needed, and both would be best controlled by Gala Spiralifts. This required excavation into the floor to achieve. Also, the new stage, designed by the architects, has an unusual, undulating edge, which, Dachs says, "significantly affected the design of the lifts." For one thing, the team came up with a system of flipper panels along the edge of each lift, which are equipped with sensors that stop their movement if something—or someone—gets caught. In addition, the existing stage wagons were rebuilt, with new decking and new steel chassis, as well as new controls for motorized usage. Pook Diemont & Ohl provided and installed the stage lifts, as well as the refurbished chair wagons. Now says, Rosenbaum, "They can do a short stage, a long stage, an orchestra pit—anything they want."
Another unusual feature consists of four sets of "tip-and-fly" custom-shaped acoustical reflectors, supplied by Wenger, over the audience. "In order for the sprinkler system to reach the floor, which was required, we had to come up with a way for the reflectors to tip, without any power," says Rosenbaum, noting that, in any fire situation, electricity might well be the first thing to go. "We created a mechanical device that releases a clutch holding each reflector, so that it reverts to a vertical position. In order to make it happen more gently, a hydraulic governor is used to slow the process down." Pook Diemont & Ohl also provided and installed the tip-and-fly panels. As Barbara Pook notes, this is yet one more demonstration of the challenge of fitting all the necessary technology into a predefined envelope, with no wiggle room whatsoever.
The lighting rig for the room includes a set of Vari*Lite VL1000 moving lights. Both Dachs and Rosenbaum point out that the VL1000 is one of the few automated units that can be used in a concert hall situation, because it is so quiet. Otherwise the room is served by a package of ETC Source Fours in various models and degrees sizes, except for a pair of Robert Juliat Victor 1,800W followspots. An ETC networking system was installed; Rosenbaum notes that two existing ETC dimmer racks were kept from the original set. Stage lighting is controlled by an ETC Eos console, with house lighting handled by an ETC Ion console. Control rooms are located at the back of the house.
The house sound system consists of 26 JBL VerTec 4887A line-array cabinets and two VerTec 4881A subwoofers, which can be either ground-stacked or flown. In the former configuration, it consist of two stacks of four 4887As on top of one 4881 sub. In the latter, it consists of 12 4887A boxes, flown from points above the lip of the short stage or the thrust stage configuration, with the subs on the ground, under the arrays, with a 4887A on top, to provide under-box fill. The entire system is powered by Lab.gruppen PLM100000A amplifiers with Lake processing. In addition, six EAW UB12s are available, to provide front fill along the lip of the stage.
The monitor system consists of ten EAW SM260i wedges and four EAW JFX260i side fill/wedges, all powered by two identical bi-amped racks which can accommodate four mixes each. Each mix is driven by an Ashley Protea 4.24G remote-controlled 31- band digital graphic EQ and an XTA DP488 digital speaker processor. Control is provided by two Yamaha DM2000 Version II digital consoles, plus one Midas Venice 160 analog mixer and one Crest Century V, which is used for recording purposes
The microphone inventory includes eight Shure SM57-LC, eight SM57- LC, and four SM81-LCs; four EV N/D468 and three RE20s; four Sennheiser MD421 II and ten MD431 IIs; four Neumann KM183 and four KM 184s; and two Audio-Technica AT4033/CLs. Other gear includes a number of Whirlwind and Countryman direct boxes. A Clear-Com intercom system includes 12 single-channel belt packs with headsets, one four-channel main station in the stage manager's rack, and eight Telex BTR style wireless belt packs.
The film sound system includes three JBL 4675C loudspeakers, plus three JBL 4638 low-frequency cabinets, four JBL 4642 subs, 26 JBL MS28 surround speakers, and one Dolby cinema sound processor. Films can be seen either by using one of two Kinotone film projectors or a Barco DP2000 video projector.
Other bullet points on Fisher Dachs' list included new seats, a custom design developed with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and custom-fabricated by the Italian manufacturer Paltrona Frau; a series of knee walls were eliminated and the rows respaced to allow for more viewer comfort. Another row of seats was added, to keep the capacity at 1,080. Also, a cable pass infrastructure, developed with JaffeHolden, allows access for cable to a broadcast truck located in the street, in the case of televised events. By excavating down a bit, a set of six new dressing rooms was added at stage left, to replace those at stage right. The new rooms are ADA-compliant, as well. There's no question that Alice Tully Hall is one of the most warmly received theatre architecture projects of recent times. Regarding the project as a whole, Goldberger wrote the architects "joust with Belluschi's architecture, but they never try to kill off the old structure. They manage to be bold and subtle at the same time, making a dull building exciting without warping its identity completely." In The Wall Street Journal, Barrymore Laurence Scherer wrote, "Indeed, the sound of Tully Hall is now almost tangible—not only do you hear instruments and voices with incredible presence, but you feel the sound as if it were a three-dimensional entity. An unanticipated improvement: Even the applause sounds richer and rounder." It's enough to make one very expectant about the rest of the Lincoln Center project
November 2009
by David Barbour
