Located at West 30th Street on the west side of Manhattan where the High Line meets Hudson Yards, The Shed is a currently under construction arts center that will be dedicated to commissioning, producing, and presenting original works of art across all disciplines.
The 200,000-sf building was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Lead Architect, and Rockwell Group, Collaborating Architect, and will have the ability to transform to support a given artist’s needs and ideas. The eight-level base building will include two levels of gallery space, a theater, rehearsal space, a creative lab, and a skylit event space.
The McCourt. Courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
A telescoping, 120-foot-tall outer shell made from an exposed steel diagrid frame and clad in translucent cushions of ETFE has the ability to double the building’s footprint for large-scale performances, installations, and events. The ETFE panels will be some of the largest ever produced, measuring nearly 70 feet long in some areas.
See Also: New ice-skating facility in southern California built to endure seismic events
The outer shell deploys from its position over the base building and glides along rails onto an adjoining plaza. When deployed, the shell creates a 17,000-sf light-, sound-, and temperature-controlled space, dubbed The McCourt. When combined with the adjacent gallery on Level 2, it creates a nearly 30,000 sf contiguous space. The McCourt can accommodate an audience of 1,250 seated or 2,700 standing. When combined with the overlap space from the two adjoining galleries, it allows for an expanded audience of 3,000. Open air doors on the north and east sides also allow The McCourt to function as an open-air pavilion.
The McCourt with a seated audience. Courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
When the shell is nested over the building, the 20,000-sf plaza will be open public space that can also be used for outdoor programming and is equipped with distributed power supply for outdoor functions.
The galleries on Levels 2 and 4 will provide over 25,000 sf of space with 19-foot-high ceilings. The theater on Level 6 will occupy 11,700 sf and can be used as a single theater with 500 seats of be subdivided into two smaller theaters for concurrent events. Level 8 will feature a 1,700-sf creative lab for artists, a 3,300-sf rehearsal space, and a 9,500-sf flexible, multi-purpose event space. Back-of-house spaces will be on Level 1 and lower levels.
The Shed Gallery. Courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
The Shed is slated for completion in spring 2019.
Also on the Building Team: Sciame Construction (construction manager), Thornton Tomasetti (structural design, facade engineering and kinetic engineering services), Jaros, Baum & Bolles (MEP and fire protection consultant), and Akustiks (acoustics, audio, visual consultant).
The McCourt with a standing audience. Courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
Photo: Timothy Schenck.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Nov 6, 2023
Top 60 Cultural Facility Engineering Firms for 2023
KPFF, Arup, Thornton Tomasetti, Tetra Tech, and WSP head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector engineering and engineering architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue from all cultural building sectors, including concert venues, art galleries, museums, performing arts centers, and public libraries.
Giants 400 | Nov 6, 2023
Top 110 Cultural Facility Architecture Firms for 2023
Populous, Gensler, HGA, DLR Group, and Quinn Evans top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue from all cultural building sectors, including concert venues, art galleries, museums, performing arts centers, and public libraries.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 115 Architecture Engineering Firms for 2023
Stantec, HDR, Page, HOK, and Arcadis North America top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
2023 Giants 400 Report: Ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
A record 552 AEC firms submitted data for BD+C's 2023 Giants 400 Report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 175 Architecture Firms for 2023
Gensler, HKS, Perkins&Will, Corgan, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Architects | Jun 6, 2023
Taking storytelling to a new level in building design, with Gensler's Bob Weis and Andy Cohen
Bob Weis, formerly the head of Disney Imagineering, was recently hired by Gensler as its Global Immersive Experience Design Leader. He joins the firm's co-CEO Andy Cohen to discuss how Gensler will focus on storytelling to connect people to its projects.
Museums | Feb 22, 2023
David Chipperfield's 'subterranean' design wins competition for National Archaeological Museum in Athens
Berlin-based David Chipperfield Architects was selected as the winner of the design competition for the new National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The project will modernize and expand the original neoclassical museum designed by Ludwig Lange and Ernst Ziller (1866-1874) with new spaces that follow the existing topography of the site. It will add approximately 20,000 sm of space to the existing museum, as well as a rooftop park that will be open to the public.
Giants 400 | Feb 9, 2023
New Giants 400 download: Get the complete at-a-glance 2022 Giants 400 rankings in Excel
See how your architecture, engineering, or construction firm stacks up against the nation's AEC Giants. For more than 45 years, the editors of Building Design+Construction have surveyed the largest AEC firms in the U.S./Canada to create the annual Giants 400 report. This year, a record 519 firms participated in the Giants 400 report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Feb 1, 2023
2022 Cultural Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. cultural facilities sector
Populous, DLR Group, KPFF, Arup, and Turner Construction head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report. Building types include museums, public libraries, performing arts centers, and concert venues.
Museums | Jan 18, 2023
Building memory: Why interpretive centers matter in an era of social change
The last few years have borne witness to some of the most rapid cultural shifts in our nation’s long history. If the experience has taught us anything, it is that we must find a way to keep our history in view, while also putting it in perspective.
