CREATIVE ENGINE

At the Perelman Performing Arts Center in Manhattan, architect Joshua Ramus of REX fine-tunes a flexible instrument for expression

- FRED A. BERNSTEIN

In the 22 years since the World Trade Center was destroyed, the site has gained some spectacular architecture, including Michael Arad's glorious memorial fountains, Davis Brody Bond's subterranean museum, and Santiago Calatrava's showstopper, the spiky transportation hub known as the Oculus. One more piece of the puzzle will be in place this September, when the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) opens to the public. The building, designed by Joshua Ramus of REX, is at once restrained and exuberant: a simple translucent box, clad in heavily veined Portuguese marble, that glows like an elegant lantern. "We wanted the building to be respectful," Ramus says. "It couldn't distract from the memorial. Yet we wanted to give a hint of the creative activity inside."