The Shed arts center includes a massive, telescoping outer shell

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.

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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.