The New York Philharmonic?s orchestral home at Lincoln Center, David Geffen Hall, has been revamped with a flexible concert hall boasting impeccable acoustics.
PROJECT David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, USA
ARCHITECTS Diamond Schmitt (Concert Theatre & Masterplan); Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (Public Spaces)
TEXT Elsa Lam
PHOTOS Michael Moran, unless otherwise noted
?Powerful. Confident.? That?s how musicians in the New York Philharmonic described their sound to a team of acousticians and architects tasked with redesigning David Geffen Hall, facing Lincoln Center?s central plaza, in New York City. ?This isn?t an orchestra that?s introverted, it?s an orchestra that broadcasts and loves to share,? says architect Matthew Lella of Diamond Schmitt, who was one of the project leads, alongside colleagues Gary McCluskie and Sybil Wa, and New York architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Think of the epic music of Gershwin, which figures in the New York Philharmonic?s signature repertoire, he adds. It?s the sound that the musicians wanted their orchestral home, which opened in mid-October, to contain and enhance.  It was a long-held desire, dating back over half a century. When Lincoln Center opened in the early 60s, many of its half-dozen performance spaces worked beautifully. But the orchestra?s space, designed by Max Abramovitz and then known as Philharmonic Hall, was plagued by acoustic problems from the start. New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg c...