A commission that was originally set to be Frank Gehry's, Brooklyn-based REX has been selected to design The Performing Arts Center at New York's World Trade Center site - PACWTC. REX was chosen over finalists Henning Larsen Architects and UNStudio through a "rigorous invitational process" that focused on the practices' experience with similar projects, including REX's Dee and Chales Wyly Theater in Dallas, Seattle Public Library and Vakko Fashion Center in Istanbul.
"Throughout the architectural selection process, REX presented us with an inspired vision. Joshua [Prince-Ramus] totally blew us away with his innovative ideas about how to present cutting-edge culture, but also about how to make the PAC relate to everyone who comes to the WTC site," said PACWTC director and president Maggie Boepple.
REX will work with David Brody Bond, Charcoalblue and DBI to conceive the 80,000-square-feet Manhattan facility, which is scheduled to open 2019. It will be the new home of the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as a host to works of theater, dance, music, musical theater, opera and film.
“We wanted to create something that is simple, elegant and timeless,” Prince-Ramus told the New York Times. “We’ve been able to reduce the project to the essence of what it needs to be.”
