Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York

The Lincoln Center was established by John D. Rockefeller under an urban renewal program by Robert Moses. The 16 acre complex replaced the homes of 7,000 families, at a cost of $184.5 million. It opened in 1962 with the Fordham Law School. Wallace Harrison laid out the master plan for the complex and designed the Metropolitan Opera House.

Art Center – The buildings are laid out in a classical arrangement around a large fountain. The modernist design evoke classical structural elements. Tod Williams and Billie Tsien recently completed the David Rubenstein Atrium, and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro recently renovated the central plaza. Architects include:

Modernist Eero Saarinen- Vivian Beaumont Theater (1985, 1,080 seats)
Philip Johnson- David H. Koch Theater (1964)
Lee S Jablin- 3 Lincoln Center
Gordon Bunshaft- New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Pietro Belluschi- The Juilliard School (1969) and Alice Tully Hall (1969)
Max Abramovitz- Avery Fisher Hall (1962)

Urban Renewal – As with any urban renewal project, the Lincoln Center was controversial, as it removed a community from their homes. No effort was made to integrate existing buildings and design language into the project. But it greatly increased the real estate value of the area and did away with depressed old buildings.

The site was chosen because it is the center of many converging traffic paths, yet this turned out to be a big problem, as traffic is a continual problem and no real strategy was made to deal with it. The Lincoln Center planners are often criticized for dropping a decorated box in the middle of the city with few relationship considerations to the area, except for pedestrian plazas, and no original cultural aesthetic.

This project became an icon for civic centers in the late 70’s. The emphasis on simple yet fancy aesthetic and straightforward arrangement continues to dominate performance venue design.

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