{"id":398696,"date":"2026-01-10T05:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T05:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/398696\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T05:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T05:52:11","slug":"nv5-and-fred-basch-architect-renovate-the-egg-in-albany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/398696\/","title":{"rendered":"NV5 and Fred Basch Architect renovate the Egg in Albany"},"content":{"rendered":"

A $20 million interior renovation<\/a> at The Egg Performing Arts Center<\/a> in Albany<\/a>, New York\u2019s Empire State Plaza is now complete. Seats and carpeting were replaced throughout the building\u2019s theatrical and common spaces. Public restrooms were made more accessible and there was light plaster restoration.<\/p>\n

The Egg is managed by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation. NV5<\/a>, a technical engineering firm, was contracted by New York State Office of General Services (OGS) to revamp the 1978 Brutalist landmark designed by Wallace Harrison in tandem with Diane Eber, the Egg\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

Fred Basch Architect, a New York City office, served as a historical preservation consultant. Basch started working on the project in 2018. \u201cWe wanted to be as faithful as we could with a couple of things,\u201d Basch told AN. \u201cWe spent time investigating the original carpet. Our carpet, a new custom Axminster carpet, isn\u2019t an exact replica, but it does pick up a lot of things that were in the original carpet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"newThe new Axminster, heathered carpeting that has components of blues and grays, and some off whites. (Megan Mumford)<\/p>\n

NV5 steered the project\u2019s technical components and lighting upgrades, and Basch specified the floor and seating materials. He also directed plaster restoration and ADA improvements in the restrooms. Basch has upgraded a number of historical theaters<\/a> but \u201chad never worked with NV5 before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project manager who brought me onto the team was with his son one day at Central Park, and they needed a bathroom,\u201d Basch continued. \u201cAnd they went into the Central Park Police Precinct, a building I renovated that opened about ten years ago. He said, \u2018This building is really cool. Who did it?\u2019 And so he looked me up. That\u2019s how I wound up on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SeatSeat detail in a renovated Hart Theatre (Megan Mumford)<\/p>\n

After its completion in 1978, sections of the original carpet from the Harrison design were replaced. Basch and the design team found pieces of the original carpet to inform the design of the new Axminster, heathered carpet that has components of blues and grays, and some off whites.<\/p>\n

The old metal pan seats in the theaters were swapped out with new ones with wood bottoms and wood backs. The new seat fabrics were specified to match the ones Harrison had employed: Red in Hart Theatre, and blue in Swyer Theatre.<\/p>\n

There were no changes to the Egg\u2019s exterior during the restoration, although prior to its start, OGS had worked on its roof membrane.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Swyer Theatre after the restoration (Megan Mumford)
\n\"TheThe Hart Theatre after the restoration (Megan Mumford)<\/p>\n

All in all, the Egg Performing Arts Center officials note that public spaces in the building have been refreshed with midcentury finishes that complement its ellipsoidal structure. The furniture and seating finishes were meant to reflect the architecture\u2019s boldness.<\/p>\n

New York Governor Kathy Hochul attended a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday to celebrate the reopening, after the Egg had been temporarily closed for construction. Hochul said her 2026 State of the State Address<\/a> will take place at the Egg\u2019s Hart Theatre, on January 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A $20 million interior renovation at The Egg Performing Arts Center in Albany, New York\u2019s Empire State Plaza…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-398696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}