Polonsky Shakespeare Center

Sciame was the Construction Manager responsible for the construction of the Theatre for a New Audience project in Brooklyn’s BAM Cultural District. It is the first permanent home for the production company known for their revivals of Shakespearean and classical dramas.

The new building includes a 299-seat black box auditorium with state-of-the-art electrical and audio-visual systems to compliment the fully flexible theatre seating arrangements. The theatre itself is acoustically and structurally isolated from subterranean vibration via a floating concrete slab supported by rubber isolation bearings designed to absorb the sounds and vibrations of the surrounding transit tunnels.

The triple-glazed facade system from Germany and cantilevered steel give way to a full-height open lobby space with embedded serpentine metal floor ribbons. These ribbons coincide with the stainless steel ribbons of the Visual Arts Plaza, designed by Ken Smith Landscape Architects. The plaza, which serves as the primary entrance to the Center, also includes alternating bands of pigmented cast-in place and pervious concrete and is accented with custom furniture and landscaping.