The New Strand Theatre as a 'Citizen of the Digital Age'

The Wall Street Journal has a story today that profiles architect Thomas Leeser’s approach to renovating the Strand Theatre in the BAM Cultural District, which involves treating the entryway’s Ionic columns with “deliberate irreverence.” Lesser’s plans involve having the word “BRIC” spelled out in florescent lights on the entryway—the building will be home to BRIC Arts and Urban Glass—which Lesser says should eliminate “this classical, iconic facade as the symbol of all theaters.” The story notes that the building is being reinvented as a “citizen of the digital age.” As shown in the second rendering above, the Rockwell Place side of the building will have “monitors installed in modules in front of the lobby’s seating that allow visitors to view interactive art projects.” The $40 million renovation is supposed to be finished in 2013. The Strand was built in 1918 as a vaudeville theater and later became a movie house, then a bowling alley in the ’50s, then a manufacturing space.
Designing Brooklyn’s Future [WSJ]