It’s been 15 long years since 9/11, as New York City continues to rebuild its World Trade Center area. The construction of the One World Trade Center, aka The Freedom Tower, was completed in November of 2014, and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum officially opened back in 2011. There’s still one component from the area that has yet to be finished: the Ron O. Perelman Performing Arts Center.
At the onset of construction plans, a Performing Arts Center was an intriguing idea that struggled to move forward. Marred by false starts and redesigns, it seemed the building would never come to fruition. That has all changed now, according to a report by NY Curbed, as the building is set to open as a performing arts space in the year 2020.
It was the design firm REX that won the design competition for the new Performing Arts Center, mixing classical elements with a modern touch. You can see the design plans in this video, below.
The building is a slightly-off-center box shape, which uses thinly-cut marble (it’s so thin that it’s translucent) on the exterior. Not only that, but the marble will be pulled from the same quarry that supplied the Jefferson Memorial and the Supreme Court Building – making it an instant landmark for that historical reason alone. The marble is then housed between two pieces of glass, both insulating the building and protecting the material from corrosion.
Inside, the flexible nature of the room will allow for many different types of concert settings. According to Curbed, “the production level’s three performance spaces and seven movable acoustic walls will allow for 11 different configurations that will house everything from intimate shows sans microphones to rock concerts attended by 1,200 people.”
The new building is set for a 2020 release date, and the design team is already optimistic that the new building will soon become one of the premiere performance spaces in the world. We can’t wait for this beautiful landmark to grace New York City and the World Trade Center.