Husband & Wife Picked for Harmony Atrium Design
NYTimes [11/1/06]
Listening to the husband-and-wife architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams talk about transforming Harmony Atrium into a magnet for Lincoln Center audiences is a little like, well, eavesdropping on any married couple’s conversation.
“To me it’s like a transportation hub,” Ms. Tsien said yesterday.
“Ooh, I can’t stand that ——” Mr. Williams said.
“It’s much more about commerce, selling something ——” she said.
“We are clearly in disagreement,” he said.
“I think we’re trying to make something that feels calm,” she said.
“She digs calm,” he said. “I love calm. That’s why I’m married to her.”
If Ms. Tsien and Mr. Williams have not exactly hashed out their ideas for the atrium yet, it is because they have just been selected as the architects; Lincoln Center announced their appointment yesterday.
Ms. Tsien and Mr. Williams were chosen after a competition that began with 24 teams of architects and was narrowed to two finalists, Thom Mayne’s Morphosis being the other.
Harmony Atrium, an indoor public space that extends from Broadway to Columbus Avenue between 62nd and 63rd Streets, is envisioned as a place where people will gather to buy day-of-show tickets or sip cocktails or coffee before or after Lincoln Center performances. In recent years, it has mainly attracted athletes who use its rock-climbing wall or homeless people seeking shelter from the elements.
The space, on the ground floor of the Harmony condominiums, has been leased by Lincoln Center as part of a comprehensive overhaul intended to make its campus just to the north more inviting.
Reynold Levy, president of Lincoln Center, said in an interview that the atrium renovation was part of a larger goal: “to be open, to be transparent, to be welcoming and make access to Lincoln Center easier and more innovative.” Plans call for the atrium to be completed by the fall of 2008.
For now it is a conceptual work in progress. Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien, who will work with the graphic designer Michael Bierut of Pentagram, were chosen not because of a design — they were asked for ideas, not plans — but because they seemed like people Lincoln Center could talk to, Mr. Levy said.
“Tod and Billie and Michael were terrific listeners,” he said. “We really loved the content of our conversation.”
That meeting of the minds is evidently in its preliminary stages. Asked about the architects’ expressed interest in closing down the atrium’s 62nd Street entrance, Mr. Levy said firmly: “They might like to do it, but it can’t be done. That’s an access to the building.”
Their notion of having members of the Lincoln Center staff roam the room helping people rather than having a central information desk or box office? “It sounds unviable to me,” Mr. Levy said. “I think a lot of work needs to be done.”
With an estimated budget of $10 million to $15 million, the project is modest compared with the architects’ previous work, which includes the American Folk Art Museum, an expansion of the Phoenix Art Museum and a recent commission to design a Hong Kong branch of the Asia Society. But Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien said it was an important project nonetheless.
“I see it as powerful and serene,” Mr. Williams said. “It’s the kind of space,” he added, that “you’d like to drop into to feel like you’re slightly separate from the intense flow of Broadway.”
The atrium is also in the architects’ neighborhood; they work on Central Park South and live in a Carnegie Hall apartment. They even have a son who used to climb the rock wall. “It’s part of our daily fabric,” Ms. Tsien said.
Although the atrium is located across the street from Lincoln Center’s main campus, Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien said they hoped to link the two in spirit.
“It should feel related in a positive way, but it shouldn’t feel of a piece,” Mr. Williams said. “This is a relative of Lincoln Center, and at the same time it wants to be something surprising and new.”
For now, their early ideas for the atrium include a stone platform that could serve both as a bench and as a stage for free performances by Juilliard students. They want to incorporate some of Lincoln Center’s signature materials, like bronze detailing and travertine.
Perhaps the heart of their initial proposal is a large Solari board, like the ones used for train announcements, that would provide information but also allow for video projections. “How can we deliver information in a way that’s beautiful and also flexible?” Ms. Tsien asked. “What we’re searching for is something you can connect to viscerally that is very much an experience. You’re not just sitting there. It causes you to pay attention.”
And the fate of the climbing wall? “If the climbing wall stays,” Mr. Williams said, “we go.”
Listening to the husband-and-wife architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams talk about transforming Harmony Atrium into a magnet for Lincoln Center audiences is a little like, well, eavesdropping on any married couple’s conversation.
“To me it’s like a transportation hub,” Ms. Tsien said yesterday.
“Ooh, I can’t stand that ——” Mr. Williams said.
“It’s much more about commerce, selling something ——” she said.
“We are clearly in disagreement,” he said.
“I think we’re trying to make something that feels calm,” she said.
“She digs calm,” he said. “I love calm. That’s why I’m married to her.”
If Ms. Tsien and Mr. Williams have not exactly hashed out their ideas for the atrium yet, it is because they have just been selected as the architects; Lincoln Center announced their appointment yesterday.
Ms. Tsien and Mr. Williams were chosen after a competition that began with 24 teams of architects and was narrowed to two finalists, Thom Mayne’s Morphosis being the other.
Harmony Atrium, an indoor public space that extends from Broadway to Columbus Avenue between 62nd and 63rd Streets, is envisioned as a place where people will gather to buy day-of-show tickets or sip cocktails or coffee before or after Lincoln Center performances. In recent years, it has mainly attracted athletes who use its rock-climbing wall or homeless people seeking shelter from the elements.
The space, on the ground floor of the Harmony condominiums, has been leased by Lincoln Center as part of a comprehensive overhaul intended to make its campus just to the north more inviting.
Reynold Levy, president of Lincoln Center, said in an interview that the atrium renovation was part of a larger goal: “to be open, to be transparent, to be welcoming and make access to Lincoln Center easier and more innovative.” Plans call for the atrium to be completed by the fall of 2008.
For now it is a conceptual work in progress. Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien, who will work with the graphic designer Michael Bierut of Pentagram, were chosen not because of a design — they were asked for ideas, not plans — but because they seemed like people Lincoln Center could talk to, Mr. Levy said.
“Tod and Billie and Michael were terrific listeners,” he said. “We really loved the content of our conversation.”
That meeting of the minds is evidently in its preliminary stages. Asked about the architects’ expressed interest in closing down the atrium’s 62nd Street entrance, Mr. Levy said firmly: “They might like to do it, but it can’t be done. That’s an access to the building.”
Their notion of having members of the Lincoln Center staff roam the room helping people rather than having a central information desk or box office? “It sounds unviable to me,” Mr. Levy said. “I think a lot of work needs to be done.”
With an estimated budget of $10 million to $15 million, the project is modest compared with the architects’ previous work, which includes the American Folk Art Museum, an expansion of the Phoenix Art Museum and a recent commission to design a Hong Kong branch of the Asia Society. But Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien said it was an important project nonetheless.
“I see it as powerful and serene,” Mr. Williams said. “It’s the kind of space,” he added, that “you’d like to drop into to feel like you’re slightly separate from the intense flow of Broadway.”
The atrium is also in the architects’ neighborhood; they work on Central Park South and live in a Carnegie Hall apartment. They even have a son who used to climb the rock wall. “It’s part of our daily fabric,” Ms. Tsien said.
Although the atrium is located across the street from Lincoln Center’s main campus, Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien said they hoped to link the two in spirit.
“It should feel related in a positive way, but it shouldn’t feel of a piece,” Mr. Williams said. “This is a relative of Lincoln Center, and at the same time it wants to be something surprising and new.”
For now, their early ideas for the atrium include a stone platform that could serve both as a bench and as a stage for free performances by Juilliard students. They want to incorporate some of Lincoln Center’s signature materials, like bronze detailing and travertine.
Perhaps the heart of their initial proposal is a large Solari board, like the ones used for train announcements, that would provide information but also allow for video projections. “How can we deliver information in a way that’s beautiful and also flexible?” Ms. Tsien asked. “What we’re searching for is something you can connect to viscerally that is very much an experience. You’re not just sitting there. It causes you to pay attention.”
And the fate of the climbing wall? “If the climbing wall stays,” Mr. Williams said, “we go.”
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