Robert Stern’s Modern Touch

“Hurry Up! I can’t wait to see it!” belted the fourth-grade chorus of the Special Music School standing atop a makeshift stage on West 67th Street last month. They were performing in front of the Goodman House, the 30-year-old building that is home to the Kaufman Center, to kick off the groundbreaking ceremony. Robert Stern has been commissioned to renovate the building exterior, redesign the lobby and entry procession, and upgrade the building’s mechanical and electrical systems. The Kaufman Center is comprised of three parts: the Merkin Concert Hall, a 457-seat performance space; the Lucy Moses School, a community arts school; and the Special Music School (P.S. 859), a New York City public school for musically gifted children.Photographs of the original façade of the Kaufman Center testify to its importance as an artifact of modernism. The concrete brise soleil introduces a dominant grid that is intentionally broken in places with solid panels and enclosed interior space. This concrete screen creates an interstitial space so that visitors are momentarily immersed in the structure before actually entering the building’s interior. When standing in front of the building today some of the original structural bones still shine through, but previous renovations and the hodgepodge signage has left the building looking rundown and less unified than originally intended.The current renovations are significant to the organization both physically and philosophically. Physically, they unify what has become a confusing and somewhat congested entry procession. There are currently two entrances on West 67th Street, one for the schools and one for the Merkin Concert Hall. These entrances lead to two separate vestibules that can no longer accommodate the growth of either the audiences or the student body. The new design creates one entrance and a grand lobby to be shared by all three organizations.In order to expand the interior space of the lobby, Mr. Stern is enclosing the space between the brise soleil and the building facade. It’s a shame, as this was one of the most powerful original elements of the building façade, but the decision is understandable as the sunshade is sadly unnecessary now that the building stands in the shadow of most of its neighbors.As a result of the consolidation of the entrances and the lobby, the students and the audience members will now move from the sidewalk into the building together, sharing one unified congregation space. This change physically communicates the philosophy of the Kaufman Center to the students and the community. Rather than two schools and a concert hall living side by side, the organizations have matured into one performing arts center.In 1996 Mr. Stern gave a lecture sponsored by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, in which he presented a list he compiled of 36 modern landmarks-inwaiting. The Goodman House was on that list, so it seems fitting that his firm would be involved in the renovation. Robert A.M. Stern Architects have worked with many historic structures, and as a firm are committed to what they describe as the “continuity of tradition.” This is not so much a stylistic description as they work with both with modern and historic landmarks, but has to do more with a philosophy about how the “present should enter into a dialogue with the past.” When Stern took the stage on West 67th Street, he described how the neighborhood has changed since the Goodman House was built. “When it opened, it was the biggest building on the block.” Now it has begun to disappear in the shadow of its much taller residential neighbors. He went on to explain how the new entry awning and signage would reach out to the street so that the building could once again be seen from Broadway.While replacing a monumental façade with a monumental piece of signage may appear to be a bit of an architectural copout, it can also be interpreted as a postmodern nod to Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s decorated shed. I doubt this was Mr. Stern’s intention, but it’s not such a stretch to think that his “dialogue with the past” might mean ushering in some modern landmarks at this later stage of their careers.The ceremony wrapped up with the fourth-grade chorus which had the last word on the project as it closed with a second routine: “Good Luck, Bob Stern! We hope when we return we’ll be excited and delighted.” And with that the true stakeholders in the project flashed their broad smiles and left for summer vacation.

Robert Stern’s Modern Touch

Robert Stern’s Modern Touch

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