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Watch Steven Holl Architects’ new Kennedy Center addition come to life

2020-04-17T16:14:00-04:00

Steven Holl Architects has unveiled a new video highlighting the firm’s designs for a new wing that has been added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The REACH at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from Steven Holl Architects on Vimeo.

The video, embedded above, highlights the 72,000-square-foot building and the set of open studios, rehearsal and performance spaces, and dedicated arts learning spaces included in the project, as well as the design’s considered layout and site configuration. The singular addition is situation below an occupiable roof marked by three pavilions.

The project, which features eye-catching “crinkle concrete” interior finishes that help absorb sound, debuted to the public in 2019.

The video was developed with the help of Spirit of Space, a group that has produced architectural videos for firms that include Studio Gang, SHoP, SOM, Coop Himmelb(l)au, and others.

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A look at the Kennedy Center's sound-diffusing "crinkle concrete"

2019-09-12T13:00:00-04:00

When you have two concrete parallel walls, like we do in our rehearsal spaces and then in the Justice Forum [an intimate theater space], parallel walls are really bad for acoustics. You get a condition called flutter echo, where you have two sound waves bouncing off two parallel hard surfaces. So we had to break that sound up. What we needed to do was create a random texture which would diffuse and break up the sound. That’s where we came up with crinkled concrete.

In a recent interview with CityLab, Steven Holl Architects' senior associate Garrick Ambrose discusses a design solution the firm created in order to mediate acoustics within their newly opened Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts expansion, The REACH, in Washington, D.C.

Image © Richard Barnes

Ambrose shares with CityLab, "We knew that we needed to create a three-inch-deep texture in the concrete surface that would diffuse and break up the sound to mitigate the echo. We knew that the pattern needed to be as random as possible."

"We experimented in our shop with different ways of getting that three-inch relief. When we stumbled upon crinkling the metal, we found that it was incredibly striking visually, and it gave us the random pattern needed, and it also gave us the three-inch depth to break up the sound."

Steven Holl Architects' The REACH at The Kennedy Center makes its public debut

2019-09-09T21:00:00-04:00

Five years after breaking ground, The REACH at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts celebrated its grand opening this past Saturday. Designed by Steven Holl Architects with BNIM, The REACH is the Kennedy Center's first expansion project in its 48-year history. The Kennedy Center was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and opened in 1971.

Comprising of three interconnected, geometric pavilions, the expansion adds some 72,000 square-feet of rehearsal, education, and flexible indoor and outdoor spaces to allow the Kennedy Center to provide enriching artistic and cultural opportunities and events to visitors.

Photo: Richard Barnes.

The windows of each pavilion are positioned to provide views through the full depth of the interior. “Through etching the glass, and sandwiching translucent white films between layers, luminous surfaces diffuse light deep into the interior, and glow outward at night,” SHA describes.

Collaborating closely with th...

New preview photos of Steven Holl Architect's Kennedy Center expansion, The REACH, ahead of September opening

2019-06-03T18:32:00-04:00

New preview photos have been released of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' anticipated expansion project, called the REACH.

The Steven Holl Architects-designed ensemble of three contiguous pavilions broke ground in 2014 and is scheduled to officially open to the public with a 16-day festival from September 7th through the 22nd this year.

Skylight Pavilion and Welcome Pavilion Exterior. Photo: Jonathan Morefield.

Part of the Center's $250m Building the Future capital campaign, the REACH is the D.C. institution's first major expansion project since its opening on September 8, 1971.

Below is a selection of photos of the nearly completed 4.6-acre complex we have received from Steven Holl Architects.

Welcome Pavilion and Skylight Pavilion Exterior. Photo: Jonathan Morefield.

Welcome Pavilion Exterior Windows. Photo: Jonathan Morefield.

Window and Custom Hanging Lights, Skylight Pavilion Detail. Photo: Jonathan Morefield.

Triangle Stairs. Photo: Jonathan Morefield.

White Boa...

Steven Holl Architects' Kennedy Center expansion, The REACH, to open in September 2019

2018-06-05T15:06:00-04:00

Construction of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' expansion project in Washington D.C. is still underway. Known as The REACH, the new building is the Center's first expansion in its 47-year history. Breaking ground in 2014, The REACH is currently scheduled to open on September 7, 2019.

Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the 4.6-acre project will add some 72,000 square-feet of much-needed interior space, increasing the Center's public areas by more than 20 percent.

Rendering of The REACH. Courtesy of Steven Holl Architects.

The REACH, View of Skylight Pavilion from Rock Creek Parkway, June 2018. Photo: Field Conditions.

The REACH, Interior of Skylight Pavilion, May 2018. Photo: Field Conditions.

Envisioned as an open, interconnected space, the building will add rehearsal and classroom space to support the Center's new and existing programs, while offering public access. “We imagine an energized, active space where visitors can go behind the scenes, observe an intim...

A bridge 57 years in the making, designed by Steven Holl

2016-07-20T13:32:00-04:00

In 1959, Edward Durell Stone had envisioned a pedestrian walkway connecting his unbuilt design for the Kennedy Center to the Potomac River, but it was not until this year that Steven Holl Architects gained approval for the bridge, which is part of the firm's larger expansion design for the center. The bridge will not only provide a tangible connection between the facility and the landscape, but allow opportunities to visit a cafe and view outdoor art events, including an exterior wall which will double as a site for broadcasts and simulcast performances.

“This is a joyful moment for a public space which will be shared and enjoyed by many in the future,” said Steven Holl in a press release. “After thoughtful review by these regulatory agencies, we have achieved complete approval for our Kennedy Center Expansion project and its public access to the Potomac Riverfront.”

Steven Holl's Kennedy Center Expansion Project in D.C. breaks ground

2014-12-05T18:42:00-05:00

As the saying goes, history likes to repeat itself. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. broke ground yesterday on the Kennedy Center Expansion Project. The ceremony also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Center's original groundbreaking in 1964.

The event featured remarks from Vice President Joe Biden, Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein, Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter, Kennedy Center Trustee (and John F. Kennedy's granddaughter) Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, as well as Steven Holl. During the ceremony, Rubenstein used the same gold-plated shovel that President Lyndon B. Johnson used to break ground for the Center on December 2, 1964.

Steven Holl and senior partner Chris McVoy designed the expansion with BNIM Architects. The Expansion Project, which was announced in 2013 and is being paid for entirely by private funds, will be built south of the current facility as an interactive space for artists to engage with the community. Th...

The JFK Center for the Performing Arts announces an expansion project to be designed by Steven Holl Architects

2013-01-29T18:51:00-05:00

Steven Holl Architects was unanimously selected by the Kennedy Center board of trustees to design the project. Mr. Holl remarked, "It is a great honor to design the extension to the Kennedy Center, a 'Living Memorial.' In that spirit ours is part of a vital architecture, providing much needed rehearsal space, and classrooms with natural light and ventilation."

More about this project can be found at The Kennedy Center website.