+
SYMPHONY SPACEIdentity, signage – 2002Partner/Designer – Paula ScherDesigners – Dok Chon, Rion Byrd, Tina ChangArchitects – Polshek Partnership ArchitectsPhoto credit – Peter Mauss/EstoSymphony Space is a community-based arts organization that presents a diverse range of programming in music, film, dance, literature and theater. Founded in 1978 in an abandoned movie theater on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, it has grown from being a neighborhood fixture affectionately known for its well-worn auditorium into a role as one of the city’s most eclectic and vibrant cultural institutions. Accessibility to the public is part of its mission, and along with its own calendar of performances, concerts, family events and educational programs (including a partnership with the New York City public schools) Symphony Space serves as a place for some 40 not-for-profit arts organizations to stage work. Its reach extends well beyond upper Broadway – it is perhaps best known for producing the readings series “Selected Shorts,” broadcast nationally on NPR.The 2002 renovation designed in collaboration by Polshek Partnership Architects and Pentagram marries architecture and graphics to give Symphony Space a physical presence that matches its cultural activity. The interior renovation preserves the existing auditorium but expands the facility into a two-theater performing arts space by uniting it with the adjacent Thalia Theater, a repertory movie house. Outside, a new marquee awning connects Symphony Space to the Thalia, extending its reach out over the corner of 95th and Broadway and using the building’s architecture and graphics to talk to the s
84 — Final Photography — Interior;

Peter Norton Symphony Space

A composition of interlocking planes and blocks of glass, aluminum and cement plaster, which wraps the corner site, is the public expression of Symphony Space’s modernization. The new theater complex unifies the Symphony Space and Thalia theaters and foregrounds the much-loved destination against the residential tower that envelops it.

While Symphony Space was sorely in need of modernization, the quandary became how to retain memories, reinforce identity and distinguish their space from the luxury rental units being developed atop them.

James S. Polshek, Design Partner

In addition to preserving the 827-seat Symphony Space Theater and recreating the Thalia as a flexible theater that allows end-stage or cabaret-style configurations, the project unifies the two venues by means of circulation, the addition of a new box office and lobby space and a new café.

Extending along Broadway and turning the corner along 95th Street and inspired by 1920s De Stijl design, the façade is a marriage of architecture and graphics – a cantilevered cut-out sheet of aluminum plate that identifies the institution and physically binds Symphony Space and the Thalia together.

thalia
Stomp1

Symphony Space first opened on Broadway and West 95th Street in Manhattan in 1978 and has been a vital part of New York’s cultural landscape ever since.

Details

  • Year 2002
  • Location New York, NY
  • Size 24,800 GSF
  • Program827-seat Theater, 175-seat Flexible Venue, Associated Support Spaces, Renovated Lobby and Box Office, New Offices, Flexible Thalia Theater with End-Stage and Cabaret-Style Configurations

Team

  • Ennead Design TeamJames S. Polshek, Timothy Hartung, Tomas Rossant, Tyler Donaldson, Megan Miller, Pat Golden, Benjamin Gilmartin, Hidenao Abe, Ray Brown, Elliott Hodges, Lauren Kleinberg, Hyunjoo Lee, Jane Lin, Juan Matiz, Craig McIlhenny, Sherrill Moore, Ed Rice, Ivan Rupnik, Marc Schaut, Jill Sicinski, David Stuart, Daniel Stube, Dorota Szwem, Michael Tyre, Yvonne Yang, John Zimmer
  • PhotographyJeff Goldberg/Esto, Katherine Newbegin/Ennead Architects

Awards

  • 2003 Industrial Design Excellence Award

Press

  • 2008Gordon, Amanda. "At 30, Symphony Space Is in Fine Form" (The New York Sun, 1/14/2008)
  • 2004French, Leanne. "A De-Stiljl -inspired marquee puts a new face on Symphony Space" (Architectural Record, 3/2004)
  • "I hear a symphony" (Array, 2004 Fall)
  • 2002Haberman, Clyde. "The Rebirth of a Temple for Film Fans" (The New York Times, 4/13/2002)
  • Wilson, Peter. "A Prince Among Streets" (Arca, 10/2002)
  • 1999"Filling the Space Atop Symphony Space" (The New York Times, 7/8/1999)
  • 1998Kilgannon, Corey. "Symphony Space Shows Its Virtuosity in Art of the Deal" (The New York Times, 11/29/1998)
Back to Top