DANCE THEATER WORKSHOP & CREATIVE TIME

NEW YORK, NY

The 1889 Battery Maritime Building stands at the southern tip of Manhattan, an under-utilized ferry terminal with vast public spaces. DTW and Creative Time, both producers and presenters of contemporary performance art, won a competition to utilize the second floor of the ferry terminal while portions of the building would remain in use as ferry slips for commuter ferries and the Coast Guard.

The program included three performance spaces, four rehearsal studios, offices for both institutions and vast public spaces to be developed as galleries and cafés. Designs were created and models and drawings produced to gain approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Transportation and other agencies.

The ferry terminal would undergo restoration and renewal of its above-ground appearance and structures and its below-water supporting construction. The theater’s interior development would provide contemporary counterpoint to the cast-iron and glass construction. New mezzanine spaces would be created, views to the Bay would be opened up and light from the main skylight would be restored after having been blacked out in the 40’s.

Funds for the program, to be derived from the sale of City development rights over the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, were unavailable after the collapse of the real estate market in the early 1990’s.

Completed: 1996
Cost: $7.8 Million