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LEWIS ARTS COMPLEX, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Princeton, NJ, United States. 2017

Description +

PROGRAM: Lewis Center for the Arts, performance and teaching spaces for the Program in Theater and Dance, the Department of Music and the Princeton Arts Fellows

CLIENT: Princeton University

SIZE: 145,000 sq ft

STATUS: Complete

The program for The Lewis Arts Complex includes a theatre and dance building, an arts building, and a music building with instrumental rehearsal and practice rooms. All three buildings are integrated in a forum below ground. The project aims to create a new campus gateway; shaping campus space while maximizing porosity and movement from all sides.

Overlook views into the dance and theatre practice spaces and the orchestral rehearsal space are aimed at provoking curiosity and interaction. As an open public invitation, this gateway space aims to connect the local community to the University.

Each of the three buildings’ interiors is developed uniquely.

The Wallace Theater and Dance Building is developed according to the idea of a “thing within a thing”. Within the overall concrete frame, the black-box theatre is comprised of steel, while the dance theatres are foamed aluminum, white washed wood and board formed concrete. A “dancing stair” connects all levels.

The Arts Building is developed with an embedded concept by its concrete and stone tower connecting to Princeton’s historic Blair Arch.

The Music Building is developed according to an idea of “suspension”. Above the large orchestral rehearsal room individual practice rooms are suspended on steel rods. Acoustically separate, these individual wooden chambers have a resonant quality.

Ecological Innovation +

LEED Silver
Geothermal heating & cooling (140 wells)
Recycled water pool
Green roofs
High performance envelope with extensive daylighting
LED theatrical lighting

Videos +

  • Lewis Arts Complex, Princeton University

Credits +

  • architect

    - Steven Holl Architects

    Steven Holl (design architect, principal)

    Noah Yaffe (partner in charge)

    Christina Yessios (project architect, associate)

    Nathan Rich (project architect)

    JongSeo Lee (project architect, senior associate)

    Whitney Forward (assistant project architect)

    Chris McVoy (project team, senior partner)

    Martin Kropac, Scott Fredricks, Alfonso Simelio, Arseni Timofejev, Michael Haddy, Yasmin Vobis, Zach Cohen, Jing Han, Laetitia Buchter, Ying Yi Cai, Gary He, Asami Takahashi, Ebbie Wisecarver, David Alan Ross (project team)

  • associate architects

    - BNIM Architects

  • structural engineer

    - Arup

  • MEP engineer

    - Arup

  • landscape architect

    - Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates

  • theatrical systems consultant

    - Auerbach Pollock Friedlander | Auerbach Glasow

  • facade consultant

    - Front Inc.

Quotes +


  • Ronald McCoy, University Architect “One of the things that makes Steven really exciting as an architect for Princeton is the tradition and the magic of the campus as a place where you wander through, very quietly, very slowly and you have a magical sense of space, and that quality is really what Steven brings to his architecture.”

News +


  • 2018 09/20 Steven Holl Architects Presents “Lewis Arts Complex, Princeton University” – directed by Spirit of Space
  • 2018 09/14 Architectonics of Music wins Architect Magazine’s Studio Prize
  • 2018 07/20 Two new awards for the Lewis Arts Complex!
  • 2017 10/30 New Photos of Lewis Arts complex by Paul Warchol
  • 2017 10/05 Lewis Arts Complex at Princeton University Opens with Arts Festival
  • 2017 09/18 Opening of Lewis Center for the Arts complex at Princeton University to be celebrated in multi-day Festival of the Arts and exhibition curated by Steven Holl Architects
  • 2017 05/17 On the Campus: Arts Center Nears Completion
  • 2016 05/25 Princeton University Forges a New Relationship With It’s Surroundings
  • 2016 01/13 Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University tops out
  • 2008 01/17 Steven Holl Architects Chosen to Design Arts Buildings for Princeton University
  • 2008 09/17 Princeton Arts complex design intended to embrace campus and community

Awards +


  • 2017 Architect's Newspaper, Best Building - Mid Atlantic
  • 2018 Professional Engineers Society of Mercer County, Project of the Year Award
  • 2018 New Jersey Business & Industry Association, New Good Neighbor Award
  • 2018 Engineering News Record, Best Regional Project, Culture / Worship category
  • 2009 Architype Review, Performing Arts Center Recognized Project
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