Our Building

REX, Joshua Ramus

REX is an internationally acclaimed architecture and design firm based in New York City, whose name signifies a re-appraisal (RE) of architecture (X). Operating across many scales, REX consistently challenges and advances building typologies, and promotes the agency of architecture. Seminal projects include the AT&T Performing Arts Center Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas; the Vakko Fashion Center & Power Media Headquarters in Istanbul; and the Seattle Central Library—all opened to critical acclaim. Joshua led the last project—hailed by Herbert Muschamp in The New York Times as “the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review in more than 30 years of writing about architecture”—while Founding Partner of OMA New York, the firm he rebranded as REX in 2006.

In addition to the PAC, ongoing projects include: Brown University Performing Arts Center in Providence; Mercedes-Benz Future Lab & Museum in Stuttgart; PERTH+, 60-story mixed-used skyscraper in Western Australia; 2050 M Street, office building hosting CBS’s Washington, DC Bureau; and the Necklace Residence in Long Island. In the fall of 2017, REX completed the transformation of Five Manhattan West, the recladding and interior renovation of a 1,700,000 sf exemplar of late-Brutalism straddling Penn Station’s rail yard in New York City.

REX’s work has been recognized with the profession’s top accolades, including two AIA National Honor Awards, a U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology National Honor Award, an American Library Association National Building Award, two American Council of Engineering Companies’ National Gold Awards, Time magazine’s Building of the Year, and numerous AIA New York, “ArchDaily,” “Architect”/Progressive Architecture, “Architect’s Newspaper,” “Architectural Review”/MIPIM, “Architizer,” and “Wallpaper”* design awards. In 2017, REX was named one of the World’s Top 10 Innovative Companies in Architecture by “Fast Company” for the second time.

Sciame Construction, LLC., Frank J. Sciame Jr., Joseph G. Mizzi

Established in 1975, Sciame Construction is recognized throughout the Tri-State Area as the builder of choice for highly designed and technically sophisticated projects, bringing a 43-year history and a proven track record of completing a wide range of buildings and interior spaces on time, within budget and for demanding clients. The firm’s accessibility, responsiveness, and attention to detail have earned Sciame the reputation of having integrity, passion for its work, and a “can do” attitude. This attitude helps to foster a partnering approach that benefits all members of a project team — owner, owner’s representative, architect, engineers, and other consultants.

The firm’s unique collaborative approach and relentless attention to detail has won them awards, ecstatic reviews from the theatrical and architectural press and, most importantly, praise from performers, technicians and audiences.

Davis Brody Bond, Carl F. Krebs, David K. Williams

Davis Brody Bond is among the nation’s leading design firms, with a long history grounded in creating projects on sensitive and important sites. The firm’s early reputation was established with the pioneering design of large scale housing complexes in New York City. The practice has since been recognized for its innovative approach to a wide range of civic, academic and cultural projects and its contributions to the urban fabric of major cities. The firm’s work is characterized by transformative results that strive to elevate the public realm in a diverse range of settings and locales.

For over 65 years, Davis Brody Bond has provided Architecture, Interior Design, Historic Preservation, Programming, Master Planning, and Urban Design services for clients. The firm has been honored with more than 200 major design awards including the AIA Firm Award, the Louis Sullivan Award for Distinguished Architecture, the Arnold W. Brunner Award, and the Presidential Award for Design Excellence.

Significant recently completed commissions include the design of the National September 11 Memorial Museum, as well as the execution of the Memorial Plaza as associate architect. Other important projects include: the National Museum of African American History and Culture for the Smithsonian Institution; the new US Embassy Compound in Jakarta, Indonesia and Phase One of Columbia University’s new Manhattanville Campus.

The firm is led by five partners supported by a team of more than 60 architects. The third generation of leadership includes Steven Davis, FAIA, William Paxson, AIA, Christopher Grabé, FAIA, Carl Krebs, FAIA, and David Williams, AIA.

Charcoalblue, Andy Hayles, Gavin Green, Jon Stevens

Charcoalblue is the world’s leading, multi-national theater, acoustic and digital design consultancy. Since its foundation in 2004, the firm has grown to a team of over 70 with studios in London, Bristol, Glasgow, New York, Chicago and Melbourne.

In partnership with clients, architects, and engineering teams they offer design services for a wide range of performance and presentation spaces: from historic theaters to contemporary offices, from concert halls to community centers, from permanent buildings to temporary structures, and in both physical and virtual environments.

Charcoalblue’s mission is to transform the cultural landscape and their passion is for creating spaces for storytelling and music-making. Their extensive portfolio of clients ranges from world-famous companies, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre to St. Ann’s Warehouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Sydney Theatre Company and Toronto’s Massey Hall.

Rockwell Group, David Rockwell

David Rockwell, FAIA, is the founder and President of Rockwell Group, an interdisciplinary architecture and design firm based in New York with satellite offices in Los Angeles and Madrid that emphasizes innovation and thought leadership in every project. Merging theater, performance and architecture, the firm’s work includes hospitality, luxury residential, airport terminals, cultural institutions, set design, products, exhibitions, and festivals.

Notable projects include: the restoration of the Hayes Theater (New York); The Shed (Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Lead Architect and Rockwell Group, Collaborating Architect); TED Theater (Vancouver); the Elinor Bunin-Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center; exhibition design for the Center for Civil and Human Rights (Atlanta); Union Square Cafe and Daily Provisions (New York); Nobu restaurants and hotels worldwide; Equinox Hotel (New York); Moxy hotels (Times Square, Chelsea, East Village and South Beach); W Hotels worldwide; the New York EDITION; the headquarters for Warner Music Group (Los Angeles); and set designs for more than 60 productions, both on and off-Broadway, including Kiss Me Kate, She Loves Me, Kinky Boots, and Hairspray.

Current and recently completed projects include: the Hopkins Student Center for Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore); Amtrak and LIRR’s Waiting Room at Moynihan Train Hall (New York); the pro bono DineOut NYC initiative; Olio Hotel (New York); Nobu Hotel Barcelona; The Waterline Club residential amenities center (New York); and product design for Paola Lenti. David Rockwell’s newest book, DRAMA, developed in collaboration with designer Bruce Mau will be published by Phaidon in the Spring.

Honors include a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for She Loves Me; the AIANY President’s Award; the National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for outstanding achievement in Interior Design; the Pratt Legends Award; and the Presidential Design Award.

Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Leif Johnson, PE, SE, LEED AP

Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) is an award-winning, 185-person, structural and civil engineering firm founded in 1920 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Serving clients worldwide, MKA has worked on projects in 48 states and 59 countries and has earned top national American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) engineering design awards (the most significant recognition by industry peers) 31 times in the last 34 years. Notable MKA projects include Salesforce Tower and Chase Center in San Francisco, CA, AQUA and 150 North Riverside Towers in Chicago, IL, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, TX, and the Performing Arts Center at Brown University in Providence, RI. MKA’s passion is creating structural systems for buildings of all shapes, sizes, and complexities, and civil site and infrastructure designs for architectural projects.

Silman, Nat Oppenheimer, PE

Silman has provided high-quality, award-winning, structural engineering services to more than 23,000 noteworthy projects since it was founded by Robert “Bob” Silman in 1966. Centered on constant collaboration between owners, architects, and other consultants, Silman employs more than 160 people and operates offices in New York, NY, Boston, MA, Ann Arbor, MI, and Washington, DC.

Jaros, Baum & Bolles, Richard J. Weindel, Ryan T. Stecher, Mark R. Torre

In over 100 years of practice, JB&B has maintained its position at the forefront of the MEP industry and around the world. Our insight into market trends and technological innovation has allowed us not only to be prime movers of that growth within the industry, but to effectively respond to those needs by expanding our service line to include specialty services such as low-voltage, smart buildings, deep carbon reduction, integrated field services under JB&B Field, and architectural lighting design through our division, LightBox Studios.

As one of the most respected engineering firms in the industry, JB&B’s museum and cultural projects are as varied as the arts they support, from multi-use performance venues and premier art museums to natural history institutions and public art installations. We’ve spearheaded the master planning and design of museums carefully and economically—negotiating the balance between existing infrastructure with state-of-the-art technologies and employing energy-saving innovations that have since become industry standard. Recent notable projects include the Museum of Modern Art Expansion (LEED Platinum), Whitney Museum of American Art (LEED Gold), National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center (LEED Gold), and The Shed (LEED Silver).

Front, Marc Simmons

Front is a design consulting group comprised of nearly fifty people with backgrounds primarily in architecture and engineering. The firm offers specialist façade system design expertise through their global network of offices in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London, Verona and Hong Kong, and provide strategic advice and intensive collaboration to realize innovative solutions in building design. Front aims to create, develop, and adapt different ways of thinking and making in a forward-thinking mode of practice.

Established in 2002, Front celebrates the completion of nearly two hundred unique built projects to date. The firm has built their reputation on original problem-solving, insightful analysis, technically advanced and aesthetically sensitive design solutions, and productive interdisciplinary collaboration. The firm’s portfolio of wide range of projects include Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), Athens, Greece, with Renzo Piano Building Workshop and BETAPLAN, Dee and Charles Wyly Theater, AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas TX with RE X / OMA / Kendall Heaton Associates, National September 11 Memorial Museum with Snohetta and Adamson Associates, The Morpheus Hotel, Macau with Zaha Hadid Architects and Juilliard School Tianjin, China with Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Front leverages its diverse expertise and the skills essential to the successful delivery of the contemporary building envelope to support its clients’ values and aspirations and to achieve each project’s design vision.

Threshold Acoustics, Carl P. Giegold FAIA, Rob Miller, Christopher Springthorpe, Laura Brill, Wilson Ihrig, Gary Glickman, Silas Bensing

Threshold’s experts in the fields of acoustic and audio/video design create places of gathering to learn, share wisdom, and pass along culture. Even as a profoundly visual species, when we gather to exchange information, the aural component of that transfer is undeniable. When the sound of every space receives our attention, we can be immersed in each other’s presence and build authentic human connections.

Threshold’s responsibility extends to the interior acoustic character for the theaters and support spaces as well as controlling noise from building systems. This reinforces the visual realm of architecture with the subtlety, power, and delight that sound will bring to this extraordinary building.

We strive to understand what is unique about and important to the Client, identify the acoustic attributes of each space that derive from those unique aspects, and then pursue and defend those attributes with vigor and good humor through the entire duration of design and construction. We share our knowledge with the design community: serving on boards, lecturing in academia, presenting our research, and contributing to guidelines for healing environments. Our work increases awareness of the aural realm’s impact on our quality of life.

We work alongside administrators, architects, and artists to deliver thoughtful designs using our holistic understanding of architecture, engineering and physics. Our work can be heard at the Apex in London, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Rothko Chapel, Rice University’s Shepard School of Music, and the Momentary. Our ongoing performing arts, educational, worship, cultural, and experimental projects include the Obama Presidential Center, DIA New York, and Brown University’s new Performing Arts Center.

The Threshold team is joined by Wilson Ihrig providing a special focus on vibration isolation from the trains below and isolation from the three venues from each other, also making it possible to stage up to three productions simultaneously. A consulting firm specializing in noise, vibration, and acoustics, Wilson Ihrig has experience on thousands of projects and has earned an international reputation for excellence in design, practicality, and sensitivity to clients’ needs.

Tillotson Design Associates, Suzan Tillotson, Erin Dreyfous

For seventeen years, Tillotson Design Associates’ collaborations with leaders in the field of architecture have extended to all elements of the built environment illuminating cultural, academic, hospitality, landscape, and corporate works with precision, curiosity, and experience. Our diverse staff, with backgrounds in architecture, interior design, and theater, combine talents to create exemplary work. Suzan Tillotson founded the company in 2004 with Erin Dreyfous joining as Partner in 2016. Together, our principals provide over 80 years of lighting expertise.

Collaborating with developers, architects, and interior designers throughout the world, our award‐winning portfolio includes recently completed projects such as The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, The Gateway Arch Museum in St. Louis, MO with James Carpenter Design Associates, The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center in Philadelphia, PA with Foster + Partners, and the One Vanderbilt tower in New York City with Kohn Pedersen Fox. Our clients have included some of the most talented architects in the world including nine Pritzker Prize Laureates.

Tillotson Design Associates’ ambitions include bringing a critical voice to issues of lighting design with the potential for a positive impact on environmental sustainability, mitigation of light pollution, and the role of light in social entrepreneurship. Tillotson Design Associates is also pleased to have been selected among an international pool of candidates as “Lighting Design Firm of the Year” by the A+ Awards in 2021.

Entro, Anna Crider

With a legacy dating back 50 years and a team of over 55 in offices in Toronto, Calgary, New York, Sydney and Zürich, Entro is a world leader in the field of experiential design.

Entro uses design to connect people to place – to fuel a dialogue between users and the spaces they inhabit, from museums, performing arts venues, corporate and educational campuses, to hospitals, transit hubs and throughout cities. Their work gives places identity and meaning; it makes complex places navigable; it reveals the history behind new places.

Entro’s interdisciplinary team brings together expertise in fields spanning arts to neuroscience. Services include branding, wayfinding, signage, environmental graphics, exhibit design, and media architecture.

Key projects include wayfinding and signage programs for the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Australian Museum (Sydney), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (Toronto), Calgary Public Library, Bahá’í Temple of South America (Santiago) and, in collaboration with Pentagram, the World Trade Center site’s PATH train terminal, Freedom Tower, and 2, 3, and 4 World Trade Center towers.

Entro’s work has received awards from Applied Arts, Graphic Design USA, Red Dot, the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD), Graphis, and Communication Arts.

DBI Projects, Ofer Ohad, Jordan Learner Barr

DBI served as project manager until 2018.

DBI Projects is an Owner’s Representative firm managing a national and international portfolio of real estate and capital projects spanning arts and culture, non-profit, educational, public, commercial, and residential sectors. Since 2002, DBI Projects has been trusted by their clients to partner and thoughtfully advance the strategic planning, budgeting, scheduling, and execution of projects, facilitating clear decision-making through each step.

DBI Projects’ noted portfolio of arts and cultural projects includes St. Ann’s Warehouse, The Sands College of Performing Arts at Pace University, The Lake Placid Center for the Arts Redevelopment, and the Fisher Center LAB at Bard College. Offering a broad range of services, ranging from project planning and real estate advisory to project and development management through ongoing asset management, DBI has holistic experience across all stages of a project’s development.

DBI Projects operates offices in Boston, Austin, New York City, and Philadelphia.