Wallace Design Collective

The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College offers an architecturally bold and dynamic environment for innovative artistic presentation. Designed by internationally acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, the $62-million, 110,000-square-foot Performing Arts Center houses two theaters as well as the Felicita S. Thorne Dance Studio, the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Theater Studio and professional support facilities.

Wallace provided structural engineering services for the exterior metal skin and associated support framing. The Performing Arts Center has an exterior enclosure that is defined by shop fabricated wall panels that are sheathed in stainless steel skins. These panels are framed with built up wind girts made from three aluminum sections, which allow for the panel skin surfaces to be curved in two directions. These panels are the second generation of the panels used on the MoPOP in that the internal framing elements are exposed to the interior of the building and become the wall finish. Because of this, the framing system is more regular in pattern and layout. The exterior side of the panels is the exterior wall of the building.

The Fisher Center, named for the former chair of Bard’s Board of Trustees, is home to the undergraduate Theater and Performance and Dance Programs, the Bard Music Festival and Bard SummerScape, an annual festival of opera, theater, film and dance.

Photos: ©Peter Mauss/Esto and ©Peter Aaron/Esto