Dance Theater Workshop

11 Stories / 60,000 sf
2002 Completion

Client: Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts)

• Ed Rawlings, RA
• Steven Kilian, RA
• Satoko Hoshino, RA
• Stefano Giubileo
• John Adamek
• Kai Chi Cheung, RA
• Jacob Zachariah

De Nardis Associates, LLP
Structural Engineer

Laszlo Bodak Engineer, PC
MEPF Engineer

Acoustic Dimensions
Acoustic

VDA
Elevator

Wojciechowski Design
Signage

RC Dolner Construction, LLC
Construction Manager

Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, is a mixed-use building comprised of a non-profit arts organization with a modern dance theater and luxury residential condominiums.

DTW includes a 192-seat state-of-the-art column-free black box theater, generous, light-filled office space on the 2nd floor, 2 dance studios with floor to ceiling glass along the street, and a terrace including walkable fritted glass skylights. The residential portion includes12 semi-finished loft apartments on the uppermost 8 floors, approximately 30,000 sq. ft in total. A simple and durable palette of materials is used, including exposed structural steel, glass block sidewalk vaulting, polished and ground concrete floors, oiled teak railings, and brickwork fired with recycled metals.

The new presence for DTW at street level includes a large multi-use lobby / gallery / café that can be opened to the street via a 30′ wide sliding storefront. A separate and distinct entrance for the apartments above completes the ground floor façade.

By maximizing the size of the residential development, Rawlings architects pc allowed DTW to negotiate a mutually profitable arrangement with the developer of the overall project. In this way the non-profit Dance Theater Workshop enjoys a built environment that engages the community which at the same time secures its place there.

“It is a very nice representation of the uses involved. The contrasts between the building and it surroundings, with the long ribbon windows, help highlight the fact [that] there’s an important cultural institution at the base of the building. It’s not just housing, it is a very special place.”
– AIA Housing Award Jury Comment