Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. (LCPA) today announced the preliminary design for the Amsterdam Avenue side of its campus. Designed by Hood Design Studio (Landscape Architect), WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism (Design Architect) and Moody Nolan (Architect of Record), renderings are being released for the first time today and are available here.
The project creates a new, world-class outdoor performance venue, community park spaces, and removes the wall that has separated Lincoln Center from Amsterdam Avenue—creating new, welcoming entrances along the complex’s west side. Responding to Lincoln Center and local communities’ desire to remove this wall at Damrosch Park, it will be replaced with a series of welcoming transition spaces from the street into Lincoln Center’s iconic campus. This extends greater welcome along the west of the performing arts center, while creating a more usable and inviting public park and performance venues that better meet the needs of artists and audiences today. Key features include:
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- A welcoming entrance that dramatically opens up Lincoln Center’s Amsterdam Avenue face to neighbors approaching from the west
- A community park featuring a lawn, water feature, tree groves, and garden for public enjoyment
- A new, world-class performance venue that will greatly improve artist and audience experiences
The design balances the interventions made to the east side of Lincoln Center’s campus more than a decade ago, which created more welcoming outdoor spaces on the north and east of campus needed to deliver on its founding mission of the arts for all.
The new design incorporates extensive community feedback from an ongoing participatory process that began in 2023, which engaged thousands of local neigh bors, NYCHA residents, community groups, students, and New Yorkers in discussions about how the western side of the campus is used and helped shape the design.
The $335 million capital campaign to support the transformation of the west side of Lincoln Center’s campus has raised 65% to-date, including generous support from the LCPA Board ofDirectors, who have championed and priori tized this important work from the beginning, as well as a $10 million commitment from the State of New York.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is a Founding Partner of this visionary process, with a $75 million grant that includes their initial support when the project began and builds upon their support of free programming throughout Summer for the City and the ongoing Legacies of San Juan Hill initiative.
A lead gift from The Starr Foundation provides invaluable support, anchoring the project which aligns with its longstanding support of the arts, culture, and vital New York communities.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Lincoln Center West Initiative continues LCPA’s bold investments in the vibrancy of New York and helps ensure the arts are accessible to all—including the expansion of free artistic programs, the design and implementation of a Choose-What-You-Pay ticketing model, the reopening of the redesigned David Geffen Hall, and work with partners across the city—cultivating audiences’ sense of belonging through engagement with art from a range of cultural traditions. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2026 and to be completed by spring 2028.
This project is being undertaken in coordination with NYC Parks and NYC Department of Transportation. Damrosch Park is mapped city parkland maintained and operated by LCPA.
By removing the wall at Damrosch Park and replacing it with inviting, human-scale spaces, the design— developed with input from NYC Parks— improves pedestrian circulation and prioritizes places for community use and relaxation. The design also seamlessly connects to the rest of the campus, including Josie Robertson Plaza, bringing the park to the street and introducing greater access and works of art in the park.
The new design eliminates the visual and physical barrier wall at Damrosch Park to create a more welcoming edge to the campus, to better serve close neighbors including residents of New York City Housing Authority campuses at Amsterdam Houses and Addition, students of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and the five high schools at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Complex.
Drawing inspiration from Lincoln Center’s Modernist architecture and landscape architecture, the design acknowledges the original campus’ symmetrical layout and formal edges by retaining a strong central axis and formal entry points, while introducing and sensitively integrating contemporary elements that accommodate accessibility, flexibility of use, and a variety of programmatic needs. The new design also incorporates materials, textures, colors, and scale of design elements found across the rest of Lincoln Center to create cohesion across campus.
By removing the wall at Damrosch Park and replacing it with inviting, human-scale spaces, the design— developed with input from NYC Parks— improves pedestrian circulation and prioritizes places for community use and relaxation. The design also seamlessly connects to the rest of the campus, including Josie Robertson Plaza, bringing the park to the street and introducing greater access and works of art in the park.
The new design eliminates the visual and physical barrier wall at Damrosch Park to create a more welcoming edge to the campus, to better serve close neighbors including residents of New York City Housing Authority campuses at Amsterdam Houses and Addition, students of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and the five high schools at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Complex.
The project introduces new community spaces centered around a water feature and expansive lawn space, surrounded by benches and movable chairs. Many of the geometries in the new park echo the historic geometries of Lincoln Center. For instance, the new lawn evokes the shape and scale of the Bandshell but re-interprets it as a space for community activity, rather than a physical barrier.
Throughout the participatory planning process, community members shared their desire for the spaces adjacent to Amsterdam Avenue to be flexible, graceful, and human-scale. New Yorkers from around the neighborhood and the city also felt strongly that the park should prioritize greenery, a water feature, increased shade, and sustainability—including 50% more trees than currently exist in the park.
