Design Unveiled for World Trade Center Performing Arts Building

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — The World Trade Center continued to take shape on Thursday as the design for the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center was unveiled for the first time.

The center, designed by Brooklyn-based REX Architecture, will have three different theaters, a rehearsal room, offices, performer support rooms, and a restaurant and bar. The three theaters will seat 499, 250 and 99 people, but they will be able to be configured in 11 different ways. It is slated to be opened in 2020.

It was announced in June that Perelman, CEO of business holding company MacAndrews & Forbes, would be donating $75 million in order to jumpstart construction on the project.

The building will occupy the space east of One World Trade Center and north of the Sept. 11 Memorial at the corner of Greenwich and Fulton streets. It is actually built to be elevated above the ground, since underground is the WTC Transportation Hub and Sept. 11 Museum.

The center also announced Barbra Streisand has been named as board chair.

The exterior will be comprised of 3-foot by 5-foot panels, which will be translucent in order to allow light to shine through at night.

Photos courtesy of REX Architecture