Descending into subterranean civic infrastructure for cultural occasions feels decidedly Outdated World. However MASS Design Group has introduced the expertise to upstate New York by remodeling a decommissioned 3 million-gallon water tank into a singular performing arts area. The Poughkeepsie Cistern, accomplished in 1923 and buried underneath a hill within the metropolis’s Northside neighborhood, is certainly one of roughly six such containers scattered throughout america. After aboveground replacements had been put in in 2017, the unreinforced concrete construction was drained in 2021 and work started to seek out methods to make the most of its 36,500 sq. ft of vaulted ceilings, scalloped flooring, unexpectedly distinctive acoustics, and year-round local weather of 68 levels.
After 4 performances in 2024, together with one in November from Website-Particular Dances (pictured), the undertaking received a Nationwide Endowment for the Arts grant and MASS helps set up an working entity to lease the city-owned cistern and lift roughly $6 million to enhance and program it in perpetuity, to anchor future growth.
