A $20 million interior renovation at The Egg Performing Arts Center in Albany, New York’s Empire State Plaza is now complete. Seats and carpeting were replaced throughout the building’s theatrical and common spaces. Public restrooms were made more accessible and there was light plaster restoration.
The Egg is managed by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation. NV5, 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’s executive director.
Fred Basch Architect, a New York City office, served as a historical preservation consultant. Basch started working on the project in 2018. “We wanted to be as faithful as we could with a couple of things,” Basch told AN. “We spent time investigating the original carpet. Our carpet, a new custom Axminster carpet, isn’t an exact replica, but it does pick up a lot of things that were in the original carpet.”
NV5 steered the project’s 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 but “had never worked with NV5 before,” he said.
“The project manager who brought me onto the team was with his son one day at Central Park, and they needed a bathroom,” Basch continued. “And they went into the Central Park Police Precinct, a building I renovated that opened about ten years ago. He said, ‘This building is really cool. Who did it?’ And so he looked me up. That’s how I wound up on the team.”
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.
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.
There were no changes to the Egg’s exterior during the restoration, although prior to its start, OGS had worked on its roof membrane.
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’s boldness.
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 will take place at the Egg’s Hart Theatre, on January 13.
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