New 42 Studio Building

Sciame was the Construction Manager responsible for the construction of the New 42nd Street Studio. The building houses fourteen rehearsal studios for dance, music and theater, a 199-seat black box theater, ground floor retail space, and 20,000 SF of office space for performing arts groups, including the Roundabout Theatre Company and the Williamstown Theater Festival. The space also serves as the new headquarters for the non-profit New 42nd Street, Inc. organization.

The building was designed to express the activities that take place within. The structure incorporates ceiling heights of 13’ or more in rehearsal spaces that are stacked in the aluminum and glass curtain wall tower, supported by a brick-clad service core housing elevators, stairs, plumbing, and HVAC. The building integrates a unique prismatic lighting guide provided by a 175-foot vertical light spire on the west side of the building, which allows the building’s colors to be manipulated.

A number of construction challenges were posed due to the building’s location in the heart of Times Square: first, access to the site was limited to 42nd Street during restricted hours because of bus lane requirements; second, a 10’ wide pedestrian passageway complicated by a very tight space which had to accommodate an outside hoist as well as staging materials had to be maintained for Empire Development Corporation requirements; and finally, underpinning of the site was required along the adjacent historic New Victory Theater.