"Now Eber, as executive director of what's formally called the Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center, is finishing up a $19.5 million renovation - the first major overhaul since the Egg opened in 1978. She hopes the glow-up will change the Egg from a place to sit and watch shows to a forum for immersive works - or just a quirky place for people in Albany and around the state and region to enjoy. The unique space itself should become a touchstone for performances."
"Architecturally, the Egg has always been an odd-man-out in the capital city. It sits on the podium of the Empire State Plaza amid a quintet of slender, rectangular International-style skyscrapers attached to the state Capitol. The Egg looks like a flying saucer set on a pedestal. It has no right angles - even its elevators are curved. "It's a striking expression of structure," Edmund Meade, a structural engineer and historic preservationist, said during a 2015 panel discussion commemorating the Plaza's 50th anniversary."
The Egg, a brutalist concrete oval on Albany's skyline, opened in 1978 and is undergoing a $19.5 million renovation, the first major overhaul since opening. The renovation aims to transform the venue from a traditional sit-and-watch auditorium into a forum for immersive works and a quirky regional attraction, emphasizing the building's unique form as a touchstone for performances. Executive director Diane Eber envisions the space as an "art vortex" that invites audiences to experience performances within the building's distinctive curves. The venue has hosted jazz, folk, modern dance and gubernatorial speeches and retains a popular legend about Governor Nelson Rockefeller influencing its shape.
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