The SOM design concept for Avery Hall, the storied home of the New York Philharmonic, is respectful of the Hall’s history and mindful of the juxtaposition of the buildings at Lincoln Center. The resulting, alternately translucent stone and transparent glass music-box is a glowing sculptural form that pays tribute to the original while making its own powerful statement on the Lincoln Center podium.

Project Facts

Completion Year: 2002
Site Area: 6.50 acres
Project Area: 280,000 ft²
Building Height: 110 ft
Number of Stories: 7

After four decades of artistic service, the venerated historic home of the New York Philharmonic—Lincoln Center’s 2700-seat Avery Fisher Hall—needed a drastic makeover. Mindful of both that history and the juxtaposition of Lincoln Center’s trinity of buildings, SOM led a design team that presented two different conceptual designs—a renovation and a complete reconstruction.

The renovation focused on the Hall’s original, smaller, shoebox design, the acoustics of which had been compromised by a successful 1960s publicity campaign to expand the original design.

The reconstruction rethought the Hall in terms of an alternatively translucent and transparent music-box. The resulting glowing sculptural form paid tribute to the original Hall while making its own powerful statement on the Lincoln Center podium.

The interior concept was designed to bring both a new intimacy and a greater tactility to the concertgoing experience. A digital multimedia system would record short segments of a given night’s repertoire, and then reinterpret and re-present those sounds in various locations throughout the plaza and lobby. Juxtaposed with areas of absolute silence, these soundboards would acoustically lead listeners into the performance.