The Egg
- Architect
- Wallace Harrison
- Year
- 1966
- Style
- Brutalism
- City
- Albany, NY
The Egg is a performing arts venue in Albany named for its distinctive ovoid shape. Designed by Harrison & Abramovitz as part of the Empire State Plaza project, it was built between 1966 and 1978 and sits at the northeast corner of the Plaza. It is owned by the state of New York and managed by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation, a not-for-profit created in 1979 to run the facility.
the building
An egg-shaped theater. The building takes its name and its identity from its shape — a freestanding, ovoid theater unlike almost any other performing arts venue, which has made it an icon of the Capital District since its construction as part of the Empire State Plaza.
Governance by an 11-member board. The Egg is run by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation, formed in 1979, whose 11-member board is appointed by the Governor, the State Senate, the State Assembly, the Albany County Executive, and the State Office of General Services.
the style
The Egg is built in the Brutalist idiom, expressed here not in raw concrete massing but in its single, sculptural ovoid form rising from the Empire State Plaza.
More on Brutalismthe architect
Wallace Harrison designed The Egg through his firm Harrison & Abramovitz as part of the Empire State Plaza project, built between 1966 and 1978.
nearby
- Erastus Corning Tower
- New York State Capitol
- Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
- Albany City Hall
- St. Peter's Episcopal Church
- New York State Education Building