Lincoln Center to Transform Harmony Atrium into Vibrant, 21st Century Public Space for the Arts

Business Wire, June 8, 2006

NEW YORK -- Revitalized Privately Owned Public Space To Offer Performances and Events, Information and Ticket Services, and Other Amenities for Neighbors, Students, Members of the Public and Lincoln Center Patrons

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has reached agreement in principle with the owner of Harmony Atrium, an indoor privately owned public space (POPS) located between Broadway and Columbus Avenue between West 62nd and West 63rd Streets, to transform the 6,900 square foot underutilized indoor space into a creative, interdisciplinary public venue that informs, entertains, and educates the public. The announcement was made today by Reynold Levy, President, Lincoln Center, Inc.

Lincoln Center, with the assistance of Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space, will transform the atrium into a productive community asset. It will serve as a central information center and visitor services hub using interactive technology for all of Lincoln Center's 12 resident performing arts organizations, as well as cultural and civic activities in the surrounding neighborhood. The performance space will feature free-to-the-public, Lincoln Center and community events. Anticipated public amenities will include food service, restrooms, and Wi-Fi access.

The architectural firm that will design the new Harmony Atrium is expected to be announced this summer. The estimated $15 million project is scheduled to be completed by fall, 2008.

Commented Mr. Levy, "Lincoln Center is well underway in revitalizing our campus, rendering the thousands of artistic events presented in and around our facilities each year more accessible and welcoming. We are delighted to be working with Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space, and,with the encouragement of the City of New York, partnering with our neighbors to modernize and animate this underused public space as a vital 21st century portal for arts patrons, visitors, tourists and students."

The Harmony Atrium privately owned and funded public space opened in 1979, and was originally conceived as a lively gathering place for local residents as well as visitors, with city-mandated amenities that included a free one-hour musical performance each week and food service. Today, the space is used sparingly and does not fulfill the original vision.

The approximately 530 POPS in New York City have been created under a long-standing city program that offers zoning concessions to office and residential developers in return for publicly accessible plazas, arcades atrium and other public spaces. Although the spaces remain privately owned, they must be open and usable by members of the public. The City's POPS are located primarily in Manhattan and clustered in midtown, downtown, and the Upper East and West Sides.

Said Neil Goldstein, member of the Harmony Atrium Condo Board Executive Committee, "Since the Harmony Atrium opened, the number of housing units in Lincoln Square increased by over 9%, compared with 5.9% in the rest of Manhattan. Lincoln Center, clearly a huge economic force in this community, has been a primary catalyst for the growth and the ultimate good neighbor. This partnership benefits all the residents of this area, especially those of us who love Lincoln Center."

Jerold S. Kayden, President of Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space and a Harvard University professor of urban planning and design, also sees Lincoln Center's interest in Harmony Atrium as a model for future upgrading of similarly underperforming public spaces. "Lincoln Center's adoption of this orphan space creates a win-win outcome for members of the public and a non-profit institution. The public obtains a new, wonderful public venue for the arts, and Lincoln Center obtains a place in which it can expose the public to the wonderful organizations and programs it hosts," observes Kayden.

Philip Milstein, a member of Lincoln Center's Board, is the Chairman of Lincoln Center's Harmony Atrium Task Force which is currently interviewing the architectural firms said, "In selecting a design firm for the Harmony Atrium project, Lincoln Center seeks to create a balance of architects with well-established international practices and smaller firms of younger designers with the potential to become the design leaders of the future."

The design firm will be selected from the following short list of names in the near future:

Allied Works Architecture

A growing firm with offices in Portland and New York. The firm's recent projects include a number of innovative museum designs including the Museum of Art and Design at Columbus Circle in New York, the Seattle Art Museum and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

Behnisch Architects, Inc.

An architectural and planning practice with offices in Stuttgart and Los Angeles. The firm is well known for its emphasis on sustainable building. A recent notable project is the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (Genzyme Center) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which contains a multi-level atrium. They have just won the international competition to design the new Science Building at Harvard, the first phase of Harvard's new Allston campus plan.