Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Completed in 2006, the sweeping roof of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has an understated beauty. Simple and well-proportioned, the center invites visitors into the octagonal lobby through a grand glass facade under an elegant standing-seam copper roof.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a new, multi-venue cultural center located on the original site of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival. Set within nearly 2,000 pristine acres, Bethel Woods preserves the iconic concert site and creates a vibrant destination.

Blending architecture to complement the majestic landscape, the center features a 4,500-seat long-span pavilion; 1,000-seat outdoor amphitheatre; and The Museum at Bethel Woods including galleries and high-definition theater.

Westlake Reed Leskosky provided integrated design services including planning, programming, architecture, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, theatre technology, historic preservation consulting, sustainable design, interpretive research and cultural planning.

"Rather than have the architecture upstage the sylvan splendor of the natural site, we sought to design the architecture as a complement to the land. The materials are natural materials found or commonly used in the native area. The forms are thoroughly new, yet evoking the familiar and vernacular. All of the architectural elements are harmonious with this extraordinary natural setting. The use of copper is consonant with the rural nature of the landscape and its local craft traditions," comments Paul E. Westlake, Jr., Managing Principal of Westlake Reed Leskosky.

The materials of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts express the design concept of the creation of a sense of place and a comfortable relationship between the buildings and the land, with architecture that is familiar and timeless. Copper is a key part of the natural palette, along with stone and wood, that weds built forms to the bucolic landscape and evokes the craft tradition of its region.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Web site: http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/.

Architectural Category: Standing Seam Roofs and Walls