THE SHED
14 AUDITORIA 2020 VOLUME ONE
Turn to page 63
to learn about the
Griffin Theater’s
retractable seating,
which was supplied
by Jezet Seating
The main
743m2 (7,998ft2)
lobby entrance
is actually below
the plaza on the
north side of West
30th Street, nestled
under the High Line
walkway. It has a bar,
shop and ticketing area as
well as loading docks large enough
for two large trucks, plus a freight lift.
Diverse programming
The Shed is now fully up and running with
programming as diverse as free-to-attend
FlexNYC ‘dance activism’ courses, which now
serve some 600 students across the city, to visual
arts retrospectives and literary workshops. It
seems to be a project Diller’s really proud of.
“Eleven years later, The Shed is an independent
non-profit organisation on sovereign land at
Hudson Yards,” she comments. “We saw a need
for a cross-disciplinary platform with built-in
flexibility. Often, flexible buildings are generic
in form. But we wanted to make a building that
can have a strong architectural character, flexible
into a future it does not know. So flexible, it
could even change its footprint. As art comes in
all sizes – big, medium and small – why do we
have to commit to a building of a fixed size?” n
Artistic director Alex Poots came on board
in 2014, and helped shape the building’s
functions. He wanted all the work at The Shed
to be commissioned there, rather than accepting
travelling shows and/or co-commissioning
work. This approach required more space for
rehearsal and so the Griffin Theatre on level
six now operates either as a single 1,080m2
(11,625ft2) performance space (seating 500) or
can be divided into two acoustically isolated
smaller spaces. The two spaces can be used
for a performance and a rehearsal, or indeed
for two performances. For similar reasons, the
top (eighth)-floor Tisch Skylights, originally
intended as a restaurant and events venue, is
now another creative space. As well as an 880m2
(9,472ft2) multipurpose event space, it houses
a 305m2 (3,283ft2) rehearsal space and a 160m2
(1,722ft2) creative lab for local artists.
More arts than admin
Levels two and four feature two large columnfree,
6m (19.7ft)-high galleries, covering 2,340m2
(25,188ft2), that can open out to the McCourt.
The Shed’s back-of-house facilities – including
offices, dressing rooms, storage and mechanical
spaces – are located on level one and within the
lower levels of the residential tower next door.
Handily, 15 Hudson Yards was also designed
by DS+R, so The Shed could be devoted more
to art than to admin.
THE INAUGURAL SEASON
The Shed is now approaching the
end of its inaugural season, having
presented more than 15 new artist
commissions and 52 new works
through its Open Call programme
for New York City-based emerging
artists. Two more new works will be
presented before the end of 2019.
“This would be a seismic
institutional undertaking for an
established arts centre, much less a
new organisation in a new purposebuilt
facility,” says Alex Poots,
artistic director and CEO at The
Shed. “Since we started to develop
our programme three years ago we
have been working with our artists
to achieve their most ambitious
ideas. And since our opening, we
have been learning about how each
of our four spaces works best for
our artists and audiences, which
has required resilience, expertise
and patience from our producers,
curators and wide-ranging staff.”
The programming has covered
all creative disciplines, from visual
and performing arts to pop, and the
flexibility of the venue has proved
essential. “The opening installation
in the level-two gallery, Reich
Richter Pärt, was a fully realised
visual art exhibition with live music
performances to artworks and film,
showing four times per day, six
days a week for seven weeks,” says
Poots. “For Norma Jeane Baker of
Troy, we used our raked seating
configuration for 500 in The Griffin
Theater on level six, whereas for
Maze and Arca’s Mutant;Faith we
created a different kind of intimacy
between the artists and audiences
by eliminating seats and creating
more available floor space for
standing and audience movement.”