Already underway, Lincoln Center's 65th Street redesign project will establish a new translucent pedestrian gateway to the 16-acre cultural complex, which is home to 12 performing-arts organizations that welcome, educate, employ and entertain millions of people every year.

Originally built in the High Modern style so popular in the mid-20th century, the complex drew several world-famous architects of the time who designed several of the center's travertine marble buildings. The designers included Max Abramovitz of Harrison & Abramovitz; Philip Johnson of Philip Johnson Associates; Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and Pietro Belluschi, with associate architects Helge Westermann and Eduardo Catalano.

"The architects that participated in the original design were used to making the highest abstract modern work," says Charles Renfro, partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro. "That is best represented in several buildings of the UN headquarters, where several of these architects had been involved. With this complex, there was a challenge to evoke the classical symmetry that cultural institutions tend to hang their cultural identities on."Today another world-class architectural team led by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with FoxFowle Architects PC has undertaken the task of honoring and building upon the center's architectural, cultural and economic significance.