The new Alice Tully Hall strips away the lower portion of the existing walls in order to create a transparent lobby space. Interacting with the streetscape, a cantilevered bandstand on the corner looks in at the lobby, putting visitors on display, and touchscreens offer information on the events happening within.
The curving wall system on the interior of the performance hall is composed of veneer-covered 3form panels attached to a series of onedirectional structural trusses and laser-cut steel fins. This customized structural system allows Philips Color Kinetics LEDs, installed behind the resin panels, to create a uniform, shadowless glow across all of the hall's wall surfaces.
In addition to fine-tuning the acoustics within the music hall itself, the design team had to contend with another factor: the New York City subway, which runs along the eastern edge of the building. Special acoustic isolation measures had to be taken to prevent noise and vibration from entering the hall and lobby.
The shape of the ceiling and directional surfaces also help to distribute the sound more evenly than before. This makes for a very different, and more intimate, listening experience, even to those in the back rows.
The existing hall has dry acoustics. The materials and curving form of the new wall system disperse sound throughout the space, brightening the sound.
