The Shed Opens at Hudson Yards: New York's $500M Cultural Hub

The Shed, a $500 million multi-purpose cultural center designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Rockwell Group, opens on April 5, 2019, at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. The 18,500-square-meter building features a movable 37-meter-tall Diagrid steel shell that rolls on wheels to create a 1,600-square-meter covered space called The McCourt, accommodating up to 2,000 people (expandable to 5,000). The kinetic structure, partly built in Italy, uses a 180-horsepower wireless motor and takes five minutes to open. The fixed eight-level section houses exhibition spaces, a 500-seat theater, and a top-floor event space with skylights. Artistic director Alex Poots emphasizes the center's mission to commission original works across all art forms without hierarchy. The opening program includes Steve McQueen's 'Soundtrack of America' concerts, Björk's 'Cornucopia', 'In Reich Richter Pärt' by Steve Reich, Gerhard Richter, and Arvo Pärt, and Anne Carson's 'Norma Jeane Baker of Troy' starring Renée Fleming and Ben Whishaw. A retrospective of ecological artist Agnes Denes opens in fall 2019. Lawrence Weiner's permanent site-specific work 'In Front of Itself' is embedded in the plaza. The Shed is part of the $25 billion Hudson Yards development, the most expensive private real estate project in U.S. history, led by Stephen Ross. The Vessel, a 45-meter-tall spiral staircase by Thomas Heatherwick, also stands on the site.