From 6-12 December 2010, the Eastman School celebrates the culmination of its multi-year project, when it opens the new Eastman East Wing at East Main and Swan Streets. The opening of the new Eastman East Wing is considered as the fulfilment of founder George Eastman’s original vision of an integrated facility for the Eastman School and Eastman Theatre.
The new six-storey building with a glass-windowed atrium, adjacent to the Eastman Theatre, has been designed by Chaintreuil Jensen Stark Architects as a distinct visual element to downtown. The exterior of the building features a curved façade that faces Main Street, complementing the Eastman Theatre’s shape.
The multi- million dollar project encompassed renovations to the Eastman School’s Eastman Theatre performance hall, now named Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre as well as addition of a building for teaching, rehearsal, and performance space. This has helped in preserving and enhancing a centrepiece of Rochester’s cultural history.
The new additions on the campus features teaching and rehearsal space; the state-of-the-art Hatch Recital Hall; and the soaring Wolk Atrium with a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture titled ‘Blue and Gold Chandelier’, a new box office, and a theatre gift shop. Wolk Atrium has been conceived as the building’s open gathering space with a chandelier as its centrepiece. Hatch Recital Hall joins Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, which underwent substantial renovations in 2004 and 2009, in offering a new home for music in downtown Rochester.
The Pike Company of Rochester served as the construction manager for the theatre renovation and new addition since 2007.
