Alice Tully Hall - Significance

Significance

Elizabeth Diller called Lincoln Center the “place that architects love to hate,” but said that DS+R wanted to give it a “second chance.” It had long been criticized by the architectural community, due to the general dissatisfaction with the complex’s overall feeling of detachment from its urban environment (the consequence of an antiquated architectural and planning ideology), the unsavory forms of the main theatre buildings, and the inadequacies of the actual performance spaces. The Juilliard Building, by comparison, received far more favorable reviews, especially with regard to its performance spaces. Despite its improvements over the superblock buildings, it was not without its problems: no clear, distinct public entrance for Tully Hall, the massive exterior stair and footbridge, lack of engagement with Broadway (either its social vitality and unique diagonal shape).

The expansion of Juilliard and the comprehensive renovation of Alice Tully Hall resolve many of the original building’s issues, meeting the program requirements of the Juilliard School while actively engaging the once-reclusive Juilliard building with Broadway and Lincoln Square, making it an integral part of the area’s vibrant street life. Furthermore, the expansion and renovation successfully merge the Brutalist/Modernist language of the original building with the contemporary Post-Modernist language of the addition. It is this Post-Modern language that interacts most with the streetscape, reflecting contemporary ideas regarding the creation of public space and the relationship/transition between indoor and outdoor spaces. The new Tully Hall and Juilliard building has received rave reviews, with critics who liked the original building praising the architects for “pulling off the near-impossible feat of improving a good building without subverting its finer traits.”