The First Look Inside BAM's New Fisher Building

Today the BAM Fisher Building opened its doors for a tour of the almost-completed rehearsal spaces, theater, offices, and classrooms. It’s a beautiful space, five years in the making, and will open to the public for the Next Wave Festival on September 5th. All Next Wave tickets at BAM Fisher will be $20, in the interest of introducing BAM to a larger audience. BAM’s Executive Producer Joe Melillo explained that BAM initially wanted a “less than 300-seat flexible theater for the emerging arts scene,” as the smallest theater currently at BAM seats 880. That’s combined with workshop spaces, classrooms, offices, a rooftop garden, and a control room three times the size of that in the Harvey Theater. As the building’s architect, Hugh Hardy, said, “There are more things happening at once in this building than anywhere else in BAM.” Click through to see the full slideshow and hear lots more details.
The multi-purpose rehearsal/classroom/workshop room. Subsidized rental spaces will be available for community groups.

Another shot of the view.

The roof garden. This space will be used for classes, lunches, and parties. All the plants are native to New York. The landscape architect is Starr Whitehouse.

The education staff will have offices in BAM Fisher. The offices are right next to BAM’s first dedicated classroom, still under construction.

About 21 feet above the theater is a “Tension Grid,” which expands from wall to wall. (Another nine feet up is the ceiling.) Lighting engineers can walk on the grid and easily adjust lights for a performance. It’s both cheaper and easier than the more traditional setup.

That’s the theater and architect Hugh Hardy below.

The theater.

The space allows for a flexible seating arrangement. There’s room for up to 250 seats, but the seating is removable, allowing for performances that require no seats at all. The Times has more details on the flexible seating.

The balcony design reflects the Fort Greene street grid. The seats are very comfortable and do not squeak!

This control room is three times the size of the one at the Harvey Theater.

This stage lift goes up to the stage, where it can be accessed through a trap door.

Bar/lounge area right off the theater. The lights on the stairway can change to any color.

As you can see, the main entryway is very narrow, but there is a striking art piece (not yet complete) just as you walk in.