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This project is a study in transitions between: the past and future; sky and earth; city and land; and the continent and the island of Manhattan. The idea was to bring people to the Universal Arts Center through a continuous sceneography accessible to all. The visitors, actors and public approach the same scene, a free-form plateau in the middle of the three skylines surrounding the site: Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan.

The long object created has three faces. On the top, it disappears under the landscape, treated as the continuation of the forest before. Inside, it reveals the old hospital as a façade wall for the main event hall. Then it uses the inside of it as a box for the main performance theater. In the front you see the new building next to the old, same proportions. They are separated by a thin slot of glass, an inside belvedere, where people can emphasize the site’s temporal fracture.

The collaboration between both team members formed as a continuum between their international academic and professional experiences.