A re-Imagined Theatre incorporating a diverse history.
The new state-of-the-art Doris Duke Theatre opened on July 9th, 83 years after the July 9th opening of the Jacob’s Pillow Ted Shawn Theatre, a National Historic Landmark and first performance space in America designed specifically for dance. The 2025 opening marked the replacement of “The Duke” built in 1990 which was destroyed by fire in November 2020. The reimagined Theatre built on the same site as the original has doubled in size and now seats 400 people. The new design maintains the intimacy of the original theatre and adds flexibility to adapt to different programmatic needs and new and future technical upgrades. The Pillow’s diverse history has been incorporated to allow for dialogue, collaboration, and education in an inclusive space.
The building includes black box theatre, box office, multi-function lobby, public exhibition space, and administrative offices. The Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) project implements Altieri’s energy-efficient mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and low-voltage systems designs, sensitively integrated into the mass timber. Features include variant refrigerant flow (VRF) system, displacement system supply designed to support collapsible seating with a plenum-type design, sound attenuators to reduce mechanical noise in auditorium (closely coordinating with theatre and acoustic designer, Charcoalblue), and both wet (interior) and dry (exterior) sprinkler systems (providing protection against freezing).
Altieri also designed information technology and security distribution systems for the building, and provided energy models to support sustainability goals.
