“One of the biggest cultural building projects in the country was sent back to the drawing board on Tuesday, when the new leaders of Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic announced they were scuttling a half-billion-dollar plan for a gut renovation of David Geffen Hall,” reports Michael Cooper in Tuesday’s (10/4) New York Times. “It was a major setback for a project that has consumed the center and the Philharmonic for nearly 20 years. The latest plan, which was jump-started in 2015 with a $100 million gift from the entertainment mogul David Geffen, called for preserving the shell of the … building and creating a new concert hall within it. … After the scope of the plans became clear, [Lincoln Center and Philharmonic] leaders put the brakes on, opting to seek other ways to improve the hall’s bland auditorium, acoustics and common areas.” New York Philharmonic President and CEO Deborah Borda “said that the turning point came when the construction and design teams said in recent months that they could not guarantee that the work would be done fast enough for the orchestra to lose its hall for only two seasons. … The new approach will be less monumental and more incremental.”
Posted October 4, 2017
