Opening in spring 2019, The Shed will be New York’s first Arts Centre dedicated to commissioning, producing, and presenting all types of performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture.
The Shed’s building – an innovative 200,000-square-foot (18,500 m²) structure designed to physically transform to support artists’ most ambitious ideas.
When deployed, the shell creates a 17,200-square-foot light-, sound-, and temperature-controlled hall that can serve an infinite variety of uses. The shell’s entire ceiling operates as an occupiable theatrical deck with rigging and structural capacity throughout. Large operable doors on the plaza level allow for engagement with the public areas to the east and north when open.
The plaza is equipped with distributed power supply for outdoor functions. The building can expand and contract by rolling the telescoping shell on rails. The Shed’s kinetic system is inspired by the industrial past of the High Line and the West Side Railyard. Through the use of conventional building systems for the fixed structure and adapting gantry crane technology to activate the outer shell, the institution can accommodate large-scale indoor and open-air programming on demand. The fixed building consists of two cable net walls that span the entire building height, a specialty steel façade, and operable roof components.
