Introduction

New York is, without a doubt, one of the main contemporary capitals of the world. The image of the city has arrived to every corner of the earth thanks to important icons such as the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building or the Brooklyn Bridge, but also thanks to its people and culture. Soho neighbourhood, Wall Street, and of course, Broadway, amongst others, are known worldwide for different reasons.

Nowadays, Broadway has become a tourist attraction that brings people from all over the world, and making, according to the Broadway Theatre League, 1020 million dollars, approximately. The digit is just counting the tickets sold during the year between 2009-2010.

It is very hard to find new plays in Broadway’s authentic theatres, and it’s shows are basically based in the British musical theatre and have famous Hollywood stars in the main roles just to captivate the audience.

This fact has made it to become very difficult to find new shows, and as time passes, it gets harder. Theatres don’t see the necessity to look for new plays because Broadway’s touristic effect ensures a full house for as long as they want. A proof of this is The Phantom of the Opera, with its 20 years on Broadway and more than 9000 performances; it is followed by Cats, with more than 7000 performances; Les Miserables with more than 6500; A Chorus Line, with 6000; Oh! Calcuta, 600; Beauty and the Beast, 5400; and an infinite list of successful shows following them.

Proposal

ArchMedium wants to propose the design of the “New York Theatre City”. It is an urban theatre campus where smaller companies can dispose of rehearsal spaces, and the new spectacles can show themselves to the world offering an always young, new and different cultural activity.

At the same time, the campus is intended to turn itself into an incubator for new tendencies and talent, a place where theatres all over the world can go to, to obtain fresh ideas, and, why not, offer that sought job contract that can skyrocket a play to stardom. This time, however, that play will not be a well known company, but the younger ones who fight for a place in the tough world of show business, and who may want to look for their place out of New York, in countries where theatre hasn’t yet become a main entertainment feature, and where the people are anxious to see more dancers, musicians and actors doing their magic on stage.

For New York City, the campus must become a public space, where the citizens can go to and take a walk in an artistic environment out of the crowded Broadway area. They can also go in to one of the multiple rooms the complex has to offer, to be astonished with a new piece of fantasy placed on stage, for a couple of hours.

The site

The plot chosen for the development of the project is an industrial area that has a privileged location within Manhattan, and is waiting for a new project to help it reinvent itself in the city, as neighbour locations have made.

It’s setting is to the west of the island and between the 30th and 34th streets, and 11th and 12th avenues. The plot is located in an area of renovation. Surrounding the area, new high standing residential buildings were made; a few meters to the north, the Jacob Javits Convention Center has been attracting people to the area for years, now; on its west side, the renovation of the sea walk in front of the Hudson river and its docks is practically finished; and in less than a year, the High-Line park will be completed, making this plot precisely where one of its limits end.