Thomas Heatherwick Chosen To Redesign New York Philharmonic Concert Hall

New York City’s Lincoln Center has announced that the long-awaited redesign of the New York Philharmonic concert hall will be led by Thomas Heatherwick, one of the most exciting architectural designers working today.

The announcement marks progress in a decades-long effort to renovate the hall, originally commissioned to British heavyweight Norman Foster. Heatherwick Studio will work alongside auditorium experts at Diamond Schmitt Architects for the $500 million gut renovation.

Heatherwick, whose proposal was chosen from over 100 submissions, has a knack for fantastical, futuristic designs. He was behind the incredible “Dandelion” building for the U.K. pavilion at Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo, an art museum in a grain silo, and a roll-up bridge in London. Last year he was chosen to design Pier 55, a floating park on New York’s Hudson River.

Originally built in 1962, the concert hall has been in need of updated acoustics for decades and was originally expected to be a part of the Lincoln Center’s $1.2 billion redevelopment completed in 2012. Two years ago Philharmonic officials chose to discard Foster’s design and announced an architectural competition that received submissions from over 100 firms. In March 2014, the hall—originally named Avery Fisher Hall—was renamed after a $100 billion gift from New York philanthropist David Geffen.

A design is expected to be released in the summer of 2016 with construction on track to start in 2019.