Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) – REX
Adjacent to New York City’s most hallowed site, the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) is the cultural keystone and final public element in the World Trade Center master plan, embracing the restorative power of art as a counterpoint to the site’s commemorative import. A producing house for theater, music, dance, opera, and film, PAC NYC pioneers new forms of theatrical adaptability to amplify the creativity of its artists and empower directors to surprise patrons with new processions and viewing experiences upon each visit.
The building’s pure form—rotated and elevated to accommodate complex below- and at-grade constraints—is wrapped in translucent marble. By day, the volume is an elegant, bookmatched stone edifice acknowledging the solemnity of the 9/11 Memorial across the street. By night, this monolith dematerializes, subtly revealing PAC NYC’s creative energy inside.
A performance instrument, PAC NYC’s suite of theaters and scene docks can combine into ten (10) proportions and transform into sixty-two (62) stage-audience configurations, from 90 to 950 seats. Creative teams can transmute the spaces to fulfill their desired artistic expressions and audience experiences using a toolkit of automated and manual technical systems. They include four acoustic “guillotine” walls; four movable seating towers (for courtyard, horseshoe, in-the-round, thrust, and other formats); a two-tiered catwalk and walkable grid system; 56 “spiralifts” to mold the theaters’ floor into manifold geometries; and several removable catwalks and audience balconies.
