Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Theater, New York, New York, USA

Rose Theater is New York City’s exciting new performance venue at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall. The center for jazz performance, recording and education, opened in 2004, and is located at the heart of the new Time-Warner Center complex, at Columbus Circle. Facilities within also include the glass-walled Allen Room; the more intimate, informal Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola; Ertegun Hall of Fame; fully equipped recording studios; classrooms; and offices.

The 1200-seat multi-use Rose Theater primarily hosts jazz performances, but can also accommodate opera, dance, theater, film and orchestral performances. The theater sits on rubber isolation pads with a “floating box-in-box construction,” that was planned and executed to minimize the noise from outside and create an extremely quiet and intimate space.

Moveable towers allow the venue to accommodate a wide range of performances by providing a changing element for stage use and audience seating. In concert mode, the towers are positioned behind and around the musicians. Alternatively, the towers are moved into storage via an air caster system to easily clear the stage area for scenery. In this way, fully staged chamber opera, ballet, modern dance, and theater performances can be presented. The towers can be turned to provide additional seating on, or around the stage, or reversed to provide a reflective surface.

Artec’s package of design and planning services included Auditorium Design services for Rose Theater, which was further developed in collaboration with JALC and Rafael Viñoly Architects. Other services included Facility Planning and the design and planning of Specialized Performance Equipment Systems for all spaces, as well as Background Noise and Vibration Control. Artec services were provided in joint venture with Walter Storyk Design Group under the name “Sound of Jazz.”