The New Jersey Performing Arts Center is the focal point of a cultural district which has successfully stimulated the revitalization of downtown Newark. The Center's scale, massing, and materials are compatible with its traditional urban context. Each performance room is expressed as an individual building which appropriately addresses the street through its own lobby and façade, while a common vocabulary of patterned brick, glass and steel unifies the individual elements.

The lobbies become performance spaces in themselves-a place to see and be seen. Additional activity spills out from the restaurant and shops, lending energy and vitality to adjoining streets and plaza. The 2,750-seat multi-purpose theater, with a full stage house, has been deemed one of the top four concert halls in the United States.

The audience is brought as close as possible to the stage, creating an intimate relationship between performer and patron, and heightening a sense of shared public spectacle and celebration. A small theater, seating 500, provides a venue for local dramatic and choral groups. All of the back-of-house areas-dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, and administrative offices-are suffused with natural light.