Listed by ArchDaily as one of the most important new architecture projects in 2019, The Shed has been described by its chief executive and artistic director Alex Poots as a new-model cultural institution, 'a place for invention, for curiosity, for risk-taking'.
The eight-level base building—with two large gallery spaces, a 500-seat theater, rehearsal space, artists’ lab and skylit event space—features a 37m telescopic shell that can extend out to create space for larger performances. A steel structure clad in ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) cushions, the outer shell deploys from over the base building, gliding along rails on to an adjoining plaza to double the building’s footprint. Known as the McCourt, the space can be used for large-scale performances, installations and events, accommodating a seated audience of 1,250, or more than 2,000 standing.