burgee

A 1976 renovation by Johnson/Burgee — when the hall was renamed for Avery Fisher — improved the sound, but didn’t fix it.

Architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, along with acoustician Cyril M. Harris, had lent the hall a leaner look with cleaner lines but zero soul.

In charge of that renovation were Philip Johnson and John Burgee — architects of the yet more grandiloquent New York State Theater, across the plaza.

The rather prim glass-topped arcade behind the “Chippendale” skyscraper Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed for AT&T in 1984 used to host a few cafe tables and little else.

The litigation brought about delays, so change turned out to be gradual, which was good because some early renewal plans like the one by Johnson/Burgee were rejected.