The Pittsburgh Planning Commission gave final approval Tuesday to The Andy Warhol Museum’s new four-story concert hall and events venue on the North Side.
The building would contain a 1,000-standing-room capacity concert hall, with office and support space and a fourth-floor, 360-seat event space.
It would be located on what’s now a surface parking lot owned by the Warhol, catty-corner from the museum at the intersection of Sandusky and East General Robinson streets. The building would also be visible from I-279 looking toward the river.
As presented to the commission Tuesday by Eric Booth, of Desmone Architects, the building would be clad in white panels with large plate-glass windows, with the first-floor form of the concert hall illuminated with an orange glow visible from the street. Booth referred to this as a "bird in a cage effect," in references to a Warhol drawing.
Commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the plan, with commissioner Peter Quintanilla abstaining.
The building, known for now as the Pop District Entertainment Venue, is part of the museum’s larger Pop District initiative to remake its section of the North Side with job training programs, public art and more.
Warhol associate director Dan Law has said the building is meant to provide a home for the “hundreds” of events for which the museum now receives inquiries but does not have space to accommodate, as well as for nationally touring music acts that currently bypass Pittsburgh. A key goal is to create a new revenue stream for the museum.
Law said construction could begin as soon as next year.
