A luminous marble landmark and the threshold that leads inside.

Evoke was invited to reimagine the public approach to PAC NYC: the grand stair that carries every visitor from the plaza up to the lobby.

The final public element of the World Trade Center master plan, the Perelman Performing Arts Center rises beside the memorial reflecting pools as a translucent marble cube designed by REX: an elegant, solid form by day that dematerializes and glows from within by night. Its architecture is deliberately restrained, acknowledging the solemnity of its surroundings.

That restraint carries through to the building’s approach: a broad, monumental stair bridging the plaza and the lobby, set respectfully against the neighboring park and the Ground Zero reflecting pools it borders. Evoke’s charge was to make that ascent unmistakably welcoming and to draw the public upward with color and wayfinding, while giving the PAC the flexibility to re-theme the entrance show by show. The design also had to honor a standing requirement of the Port Authority of NY & NJ: that every building on the plaza glow blue each September 11th.

Partnering with Color Kinetics, Evoke washed the stair in a bold, saturated glow, lighting each run of steps as its own element so the light defines and scrapes across the granite, a surface that takes color beautifully. The result is a fully tunable threshold: warm and inviting for a night at the theater, a solemn blue for the days of remembrance, and whatever the PAC’s programming calls for in between.