RONALD O. PERELMAN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ARCHITECT BACKGROUNDER September 8, 2016

REX is an internationally-acclaimed architecture firm in led by Joshua Prince-Ramus. REX—whose name signifies a re-appraisal (RE) of architecture (X)—consistently challenges and advances building typologies, and promotes the agency of architecture. REX and Joshua are renowned for the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in , the Vakko Fashion Center and Power Media Center in Istanbul, and the . Their work has been recognized with the profession’s top accolades, including the 2015 Marcus Prize, bestowed upon architects “on a trajectory to greatness,” two American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Honor Awards, a U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology National Honor Award, an American Library Association National Building Award, and two American Council of Engineering Companies’ National Gold Awards.

The firm is currently working on the Mercedes-Benz Future Lab in Stuttgart, Germany, a 110,000 sf (10,200 m2) public showcase for the brand’s impact on state-of-the-art mobility and a factory for creating, debating, and presenting the indeterminate future; a new, approximately 400,000 sf (37,100 m2) office building in Washington, DC that will host CBS’s Washington Bureau, among other tenants; a 41,000 sf (3,800 m2) private residence on Long Island for a patriarch and his four children’s future families; a multi-form performing arts house with up to 200 seats for a private school in Virginia that will also serve its surrounding county; and the re-cladding and interior renovation of Five Manhattan West, a 1.5 million sf (140,000 m2) Brutalist landmark straddling Penn Station’s rail yard in New York City. REX is also participating in a limited competition to design the new Museum of 20th Century Art in Berlin, between masterpieces by Mies van der Rohe and Hans Scharoun. In recent years, REX was declared winner of a limited competition for a $480 million, 80-story tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and has been a finalist in limited international competitions for the new Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway; the Finnish Innovation Fund’s Low2No sustainable development in Helsinki, Finland; the new Victoria and Albert Museum in Dundee, Scotland; and the New Central Library for Calgary, Canada.

The subject of numerous international exhibitions and publications, the work of REX has also received many of the profession’s top recognitions. The Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre received the AIA’s 2011 National Honor Award, the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology’s 2012 National Honor Award, and the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 2010 National Gold Award. The Wyly Theatre is regarded as one of the world’s most flexible performance spaces. Says Kevin Moriarty, Dallas Theater Center’s artistic director: “Each production’s surprising relationship between theatrical design and architecture, and the vibrancy and intimacy of actor-audience interaction, consistently enthralls audiences.” The Vakko Fashion Center and Power Media Center was presented the AIA New York’s 2014 Honor Award, ArchDaily’s 2010 Office Building of the Year, Wallpaper* magazine’s Design Award 2011 for Best Workspace, and Architizer’s 2013 A+ Award for Low-Rise Office Building. The Center was also nominated for the 2013 Aga Khan Award. The Seattle Central Library was hailed as Time magazine’s 2004 Building of the Year and by Herbert Muschamp in the New York Times as “the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review in more than 30 years of writing about architecture.” In 2005, the Seattle Central Library was awarded the top honors bestowed by the AIA, the American Library Association, and the ACEC. The Library was a finalist for the inaugural Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, awarded in 2014 to the best architectural work in North and South America completed from 2000 to 2013.

Joshua Prince-Ramus REX is led by Joshua Prince-Ramus, who was the founding partner and principal of OMA New York, until he rebranded the firm as REX in 2006. While REX was still known as OMA New York, Joshua was partner-in-charge of the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas and the Seattle Central Library. Joshua is the most recent recipient of the Marcus Prize, bestowed upon architects “on a trajectory to greatness.” He has been credited as one of the “5 greatest architects under 50” by The Huffington Post, one of the world’s most influential young architects by Wallpaper*, one of the twenty most influential players in design by Fast Company, and among “The 20 Essential Young Architects” by ICON magazine. He was also featured as one of the “Best and Brightest” by Esquire magazine. Joshua has been the Cullinan Visiting Professor at Rice University and the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University, and has taught at Columbia University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Syracuse University. A member of the TED Brain Trust, Joshua has also shared REX’s design methodologies at the TED2006 and TEDxSMU conferences.

# # # Contact: Isabelle Moutaud / [email protected] / 646.230.6557