The Shed, a large multidisciplinary arts space in New York City, has announced it will open on 5 April.
Sat just a block away from the Hudson River in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, the 18,500-square-metre building has a modular structure and an outer skin akin to a ’70s vinyl sofa. Construction began in 2015, led by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
As for key stats, The Shed has a 1,250-seat concert hall and a 500-seat black-box theatre that can be divided up into smaller units. It also boasts more than 2,300 square metres of gallery space.
Opening The Shed is Soundrack of America, a concert series curated by filmmaker Steve McQueen. Other highlights are a Björk concert directed by John Tiffany; a kung fu musical titled Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise; and a performance from poet Anne Carson.
“We wanted this to be a building that could bring parity across pretty much all art forms,” said artistic director and chief executive Alex Poots in an interview with The New York Times. “People like opportunities, not instructions.”
Estimated costs for The Shed are USD475m (€411m), with all of this money coming from private donations (including USD75m fro former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg). Poots and his team are looking to raise a further USD62m to cover operational and programming costs.