Mecanoo’s next cultural building in the United States, the new Doris Duke Theater for the Jacob’s Pillow dance center in western Massachusetts town of Becket, has announced its opening date of July 9th, 2025.

After the popular Berkshires destination suffered a devastating loss from a fire in late 2020, the $30 million rebuilding effort was launched, focused on creating a new home that, in the words of the center’s Artistic Director Pamela Tatge, is "grounded in the Indigenous history of the land on which we dance."

Joining Mecanoo for its reimagined design was Marvel, now fresh off the groundbreaking of its new Bronx Museum of the Arts renovation/expansion and work on the esplanade for the new Universal Hip Hop Museum led by Michael Ford’s BrandNu Design Studio.

Francine Houben, Mecanoo’s founder, says: "At the heart of the new Doris Duke Theatre lies a celebration of movement, space, and connection. [...] The new theater captures the essence of dance, not only as an art form but as a deeply human experience intertwined with the landscape and community. The design draws on the rhythms of nature, mirroring the fluidity and grace of dancers."

The new theater facility is 20,000 square feet, more than doubling the original footprint its predecessor. Seating for up to 400 patrons was created. The building utilizes a mass timber structure clad in pine that will weather over time to emulate the change of seasons while aging gracefully as an "organic register of the dance of nature."

Outside, the landscape program from Marvel features a sculptural stone "scramble" space framing a central quad. The consultation of Choctaw/Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson's on the project was critical here in helping to enhance the project's connection to the land and Indigenous values. As such, further to the east, a landscaped garden with fire created by other Indigenous artists celebrates the cultural traditions of the land's historic stewards. 

This also highly technological design checks all the boxes sought after in an architectural project as an example of the synthesis of form, function, and connection to the land. The building features rainwater harvesting and a makerspace through which artists can incorporate artificial intelligence, extended reality, and robotics in their live performances. A spatial sound system and infrared camera tracking capabilities used for interactive video content, finally, count among the other impressive list of capabilities. 

Tatge (who referred to it as a new "global hub for innovation") adds: "I am excited to see how artists and audiences join together and move beyond the limits of a traditional performance venue. In the new Duke, we will offer not just compelling and wide-ranging works that already exist today—but also some of tomorrow’s most innovative mixed reality movement and dance experiences, which meld the virtual and the physical in deeply affecting ways."

The Dutch firm, which is working on the renovation of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, was featured recently in our roundup of 10 examples of metal in architecture after contributing to our look at how top industry names have successfully pursued work abroad.