Design
The structure was designed by Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen, and Jo Mielziner was responsible for the design of the stage and interior. The travertine-clad roof houses stacks of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, designed by Gordon Bunshaft.
The Vivian Beaumont differs from traditional Broadway theatres because of its use of stadium seating and its thrust stage configuration. With 1,060 seats, it is considered a fairly large theater for dramatic plays and a medium-size theater for musicals.
Located on the Vivian Beaumont’s planted green roof, the Claire Tow Theater seats just 112 people in a fixed configuration. Designed by Hugh Hardy and built at a cost of $42 million, the two-story, 23,000-square-foot glass box has the same width as the glass base of the Beaumont and also houses rehearsal space, dressing quarters, offices, and a pocket lobby with a bar. The structure is wrapped inside a grille of aluminum louvers that help screen out the sun. In designing the interior, Hardy used simple materials, stained oak for the lobby floors and walnut for the theater’s sloping walls. The bar features Overture (2012), a sculpture by Kiki Smith.
Read more about this topic: Vivian Beaumont Theatre
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“Westerners inherit
A design for living
Deeper into matter—
Not without due patter
Of a great misgiving.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“I begin with a design for a hearse.
For Christ’s sake not black—
nor white either—and not polished!
Let it be weathered—like a farm wagon—”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)