There may be nothing very similar to Jacob’s Pillow, the famend cultural hub that’s house to America’s longest-running worldwide dance competition, and whose campus within the leafy Berkshires is a delegated Nationwide Historic Landmark. The advanced, which hosts performances, residences and a faculty, in a year-round programme, has been rising organically – figuratively and actually – since its inception in 1933. At present, it’s broadly acknowledged for its pioneering historical past in its artwork type and represents an essential centre for dance within the nation, in addition to globally.
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan / Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)
Jacob’s Pillow and the Doris Duke Theatre: a historical past
Jacob’s Pillow’s revolutionary founder, fashionable dance pioneer Ted Shawn, was in the hunt for a house for his all-male firm (a rarity on the time), Ted Shawn and His Males Dancers, when he got here throughout a farm on high of a wooded hill in Becket, Massachusetts. Accessed through a zigzagging highway, the positioning was domestically known as ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (from the Biblical story) and had existed for the reason that 1700s. A spherical rock on the positioning resembling a pillow quickly gave the venue its identify. There, the corporate’s dancers slowly constructed – typically with their very own fingers and whereas dwelling off-grid on-site – a household of constructions utilizing the realm’s conventional timber frames, which finally grew to become the colourful campus you discover there at this time.
The advanced accommodates buildings that home workplaces, rehearsal rooms, an archive and exhibition centre, and naturally, phases – amongst them, the Ted Shawn Theatre (which was totally renovated in 2022) and the breathtaking, out of doors Henry J Leir Stage the place reveals happen towards the backdrop of the encompassing rural panorama. A 3rd efficiency website, the Doris Duke Theatre, accomplished the set, however in 2020 it was tragically destroyed by fireplace.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Flansburgh Architects)
To make up for this loss and responding to the organisation’s rising wants, Jacob’s Pillow, now headed by director Pamela Tatge, commissioned Dutch structure studio Mecanoo to create a brand new house for its third stage. Architect and apply founder Francine Houben unveiled her design for the brand new Doris Duke Theatre in 2023, working with New York design agency Marvel and artist Jeffrey Gibson, whose Choctaw-Cherokee heritage is usually mirrored in his artwork, impressed by the North American Indigenous aesthetic. Jacob’s Pillow rests on the ancestral homelands of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok or Mohican individuals, and acknowledging this and having the North American Indigenous group be an integral a part of the brand new design was pivotal to the dance centre’s plans and future.
It was equally essential for the advanced to develop holistically and on a bigger scale, too, permitting guests to expertise not only a particular efficiency once they go to, however the wider campus, its nature, and cultural and architectural heritage.
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan / Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)
Tour the newest campus addition at Jacob’s Pillow
Tatge explains why Mecanoo was the proper match for the fee: ‘There have been plenty of the reason why we picked Francine. One is her deep expertise in creating theatres, and we needed to ensure that this was a theatre that was going to work for us. The second is her wonderful work with wooden; she engages with it in a really poetic approach.
‘She had additionally lately created a reimagined wooden constructing on her property within the Netherlands, known as the Shed – it’s a nonprofit that helps efficiency, conferences, and retreats in dialogue with the panorama. I believed, if somebody could make such magnificent work on a big scale, and can even make one thing like this, she’s our candidate. And the ultimate factor, which was actually essential, was that we requested each design group to [include] an Indigenous artist. She chosen Jeffrey Gibson, who has a efficiency background. For all these causes, Mecanoo was the best selection.’
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan / Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)
All present buildings at Jacob’s Pillow observe the standard native vernacular, conceived to be extremely purposeful and pragmatic. They’re lovely of their mild, wooden structure and utilitarian seems to be. The reimagined Doris Duke Theatre sits on the positioning of the previous construction and echoes the identical spirit, utilizing, for instance, fashionable timber building. The brand new constructing, nevertheless, goals to be extra open and extra inclusive and accessible, in addition to extra versatile and bigger – the primary stage seats 230 individuals – than its predecessor, whereas sustaining the outdated theatre’s intimacy and heat really feel.
Following these themes, each Tatge and Houbin agreed that the constructing needed to be related to its land. ‘We [were] not constructing a theatre in Brooklyn,’ Tatge says. ‘It wanted to resonate with the encompassing setting, and in addition be accountable when it comes to sustainability. We wanted to make environmentally acutely aware selections, and in addition embrace new applied sciences and ensure the campus is accessible.’
‘Jacob’s Pillow is a spectacular place,’ says Houbin. ‘It’s a collage of buildings. I beloved the color and tactility of the outdated [Doris Duke] constructing, and the way it opened and related to nature. That is likely one of the distinctive issues right here; you might be all the time related to nature. Additionally, it’s on Indigenous land, and all of the buildings are of colonial typology. We needed to return and have fun the range and the Indigenous historical past of the positioning.’
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan / Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)
The construction is in-built pine, which can age and switch silver over time. Its rounded form and the backyard behind it replicate shapes and layouts which are essential in Indigenous tradition – as does the quantity ‘7’, which makes its look in numerous components, such because the horizontal ‘bands’ of timber cladding seen on the exterior pores and skin.
The rounded type is ‘due to Jeffrey Gibson, who identified that Indigenous constructions are round and colonial constructions are all proper angles,’ continues Houbin. ‘We [had] no curves at Jacob’s Pillow. What would it not imply to introduce a curve? So we launched this massively inclusive veranda that represents what we would like this place to be. What we would like this theatre to be is a welcoming area for all. The ultimate type is just not an ideal circle, however there’s something actually essential about imperfection.’
Because of this, the constructing’s ground-level flowing veranda results in a west-side foyer, welcoming company in a sheltered, pre-show space. One other foyer on the east aspect can be utilized flexibly as a rehearsal area and multipurpose occasion space, spilling out to a lush backyard that pushes the boundaries of dance efficiency. Right here, artwork items together with contributions from Indigenous artists will probably be displayed, and there is additionally a medicinal backyard and a fireplace pit for gatherings. And, after all, there was a motive why this backyard sits on the east, Houbin explains: ‘In accordance with Indigenous philosophy, it is advisable to enter from the east.’
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan / Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)
Inside, the primary stage and all its seating and technical magic sit inside a ‘field’, positioned throughout the exterior, rounded quantity. ‘In theatre, we speak in regards to the “black field”. We imply a rectangle that is massively versatile. So it is a black field, a wood field, and Francine takes it to the subsequent degree: it is a magic field due to all of the ways in which you should utilize the area,’ says Tatge.
Houbin explains that the theatre opens in all 4 instructions, combining, visually and bodily, artwork and nature. It feels open and flowing. ‘We imagined [dancer] Emily Johnson dancing on the roof – we needed to make areas that may be each formal and casual,’ the architect says. There are additionally new assist areas, acoustic panels and air flow, which not solely work effectively however are additionally lovely to take a look at. All of it works completely in tune with each its pure and constructed setting at Jacob’s Pillow, an ideal addition to the advanced that hosted ‘the primary theatre within the USA that was actually designed for dance’, Houbin says.
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan / Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)
The reimagined Doris Duke Theatre opened at Jacob’s Pillow on 6 July 2025 with per week of festivities throughout the campus, together with the Trinity Irish Dance Firm, a three-day Satisfaction celebration that includes The Illustrious Blacks, and performances by Indigenous Enterprise, Calpulli Mexican Dance Firm, and Sydnie L. Mosley Dances.
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