Steven Holl Architects has nestled "much-needed" performance spaces for the Kennedy Center in Washington DC under a grassy slope topped by three white-concrete pavilions.
Named the Reach, the expansion to the John F Kennedy Performing Arts Center comprises 72,000-square-feet (6,689-square-metres) of interior space, almost all of which is housed underground.

Steven Holl Architects' extension adds additional rehearsal rooms, educational spaces, a lounge, a Peace Corps Gallery and a 150-seat performance theatre to the cultural venue, which was built in 1971 by Edward Durell Stone.
These underground spaces are hidden under a grassy knoll, which is broken by three, white-concrete pavilions.

The trio of pavilions are made from titanium white, Douglas fir board-formed concrete and feature different swooped edges, paired with other harsh angles with flat and slanting roofs. They have large windows with views towards Washington DC's Potomac River, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
"From a distance the concrete appears monolithic and seamless," said Steven Holl Architects.

The Welcome pavilion stands above the entrance, while the Skylight pavilion at the centre of the site has a massive curved wall. The River pavilion, which is built at the lowest part of the grass mound, sits alongside the river and is adjacent to a reflection pool.
"This strategy creates a language of forms, from conical sections to hyperbolic paraboloids, a visual ac...