The Green. Image Courtesy of Mimi Lien/Rendering by Timothy Leung
After several event cancellations due to the pandemic, Manhattan’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex have transformed their outdoor plaza into a green park and outdoor performance venue called The Green. As of May 10, the Restart Stagesinitiative will add fake grass across the 14,000-square-foot (1,300 sqm) Josie Robertson Plaza. The plaza, which was originally designed by Philip Johnson, Wallace K. Harrison, and Max Abramovitz, and renovated by award-winning architecture firm DS+R in 2010, will transform into a public urban space of gathering, leisure, and entertainment.
Architect Elizabeth Diller of firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro has once again been named one of TIME’s most influential people in 2018. TIME Magazine’s annual ‘Time 100’ List recognizes the achievement of artists, leaders, activists, entrepreneurs, and athletes who are exemplary in their fields. Diller has been named to the category of “Titans,” along with Roger Federer, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Kevin Durant. This is Diller’s second time on the list but the first time being honored as a "Titan."
Other honorees this year include Shinzo Abe, Justin Trudeau, Xi Jinping and Jimmy Kimmel.
Two large-scale US cultural projects have, this week, announced major updates relating to the renovation of existing buildings – and both involve, to a greater and lesser extent, American business magnate, media mogul, and philanthropist David Geffen.
After Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic failed to raise the $300 million they needed to cover construction costs, and due to concerns that displacing the orchestra would jeopardize potential revenue, Foster+Partners' plans languished. However, the Philharmonic is now under new leadership, and its young directors are anxious to transform the conventional music hall, hence why they've decided to solicit new proposals for the building.
As the Orchestra's new executive eirector, Matthew VanBesien, told theNew York Times: “If you’re not thinking about the way in which our art form and music and audiences are evolving, you’re not serving the art form long term. You really want to build this next great hall in a new way, to do the kinds of things you maybe are doing but want to do in a more compelling way or maybe can’t even imagine yet.”
More info about the proposal for the new Avery Fisher Hall, after the break...
Amidst finishing the second installation of the High Line with James Corner Field Operations, and beginning to design the Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles, DS + R has carved out a little pocket of time to add the finishing touches to their redesign of Lincoln Center. According to the Times, the team has turned their attention to the smaller details of project, specifically the Center’s electronic infoscape. It takes a lot to stop a New Yorker, yet Reynold Levy, Lincoln Center’s president, told the Times, “We think this will cause them to stop in their tracks and really take a look. We are endeavoring to create a feeling, engender a mood, provide a sense of the drama and the beauty of what goes on in our halls. We want to attract passers-by, but we also want to surprise Upper West Siders.”
