Iwan Baan Iwan Baan
THE SHED
undertaken by Hardesty & Hanover. The
resulting 1,600m2 (17,222ft2) space – dubbed
the McCourt – can accommodate an audience
of roughly 1,250 seated or 2,000 standing. This
capacity can also be combined with space in the
adjoining galleries of the base building, for an
audience of up to 3,000 people.
Pretty fly
“We have the telescoping shell that can be
deployed on demand,” says Diller. “Its structural
roof provides a technical deck that spans the
entire footprint of the building, like having the
fly space of an opera house over the stage and
audience combined. Stage personnel can fly
anything down from above. When deployed, the
shell creates a light-, sound- and temperaturecontrolled
space for theatrical productions,
concerts, large installations or events.”
Guillotine doors on three sides can open up
to create a seamlessly indoor/outdoor space
or the shell can stay over the fixed part of the
building in warmer months or when the sound
doesn’t have to be contained. “You don’t have to
heat or cool the large space if you’re not using it;
you can simply nest it,” says Diller. “You could
drive a truck right onto the space and use the
shell as a gantry crane to bring anything into
the building and distribute it to all floors.”
Trim Teflon
The huge structure might tip the scales at 453.6
tonnes but its weight was trimmed significantly
– to be more easily movable – by the avoidance
of glass. “The building has no fat, only muscle,”
says Diller. “It’s made of structurally welded steel.
Instead of glass we used ETFE ethylene
tetrafluoroethylene pillows, a Teflon-based
material that is filled with low-pressure air and
provides the thermal properties of glass at one
hundredth of the weight.”
Iwan Baan
Timothy Schenck
AUDITORIA 2020 VOLUME ONE 13