The Re-Imagined David Geffen Hall
“The new David Geffen Hall building, with its greater audience intimacy, flexible acoustics, and variable stage configurations, will enable us to diversify our programming presentations to reflect our 21st-century musical world. This project marks an exciting new chapter in New York’s musical and artistic life, one that will brightly illuminate the future and the sublime creations from the past.”
Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director, Lincoln Center
David Geffen Hall, home to New York’s Philharmonic, at Lincoln Center is more than a music hall. It’s a cultural landmark. At its core the concert hall has through the years celebrated memorable moments, hosting notable performers and patrons.
Designed originally by Max Abramovitz in 1962, the hall has gone under multiple renovations over the decades. These efforts have attempted to address the—still unresolved—acoustical challenges.
The reimagination project reconceives the entire facility within its existing historic shell to create a more welcoming and intimate audience experience featuring state-of-the-art acoustics and technical capabilities. With a new concert hall as the building’s centerpiece, all public spaces are also being reconceptualized to provide greater opportunities for people to gather and more intuitive circulation throughout its public and back-of-house facilities.
The design transforms the existing concert hall from a cavernous rectilinear shoebox into a curvilinear unified room with flawless acoustics and optimized sightlines that will foster an intimate connection between the audience and performers. By relocating the stage forward by 25 feet and eliminating the proscenium, the seating wraps around the stage and brings the entire audience closer to the performers.
The new hall will be a flexible space that is readily adaptable to a range of stage and seating configurations supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure. In addition to a highly versatile performance space, the new hall also features updated back-of-house facilities to accommodate the wide-ranging needs of performers and production teams.
New interior public spaces will include a reconfigured main lobby, new entrance with improved visitor flow and accessibility, a large media wall visible from the street, expanded food and beverage service with access to the terrace, and new promontories overlooking the lobby level create a more welcoming and unified environment.
| Client | Lincoln Center and New York Philharmonic |
| Completion | 2022 |
| Public Space Collaboration | Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects |
| Images | Courtesy of Lincoln Center and New York Philharmonic |
| Team |
See full project team
Nahid Ahmadi
Meaghan Aikins Carlos Calpe Gargallo Sherri Catt Claudia Cozzitorto Paul De Voe Kholisile Dhliwayo Nick Duch Hugo Flammin Mehdi Ghiyaei Emre Goktay Simge Goktay Jim Graves Brandon Griffin Stephanie Huss Taylor Knoche Matthew Lella Liheng Li Michael Lukasik Christiano Mahler Gary McCluskie Marcela Ortiz Maya Orzechowska Graeme Reed Matthew Schmid Donald Schmitt Nigel Tai Michael Treacy Jose Trinidad Brian Tseng Sybil Wa Russell Wooten Coco Xiong Albert Yu Javier Zeller Wei Zhao |
