Queensborough Community College Performing Arts Center (QPAC)

Queensborough Community College

Queens, NY
2024

QPAC, the 850-seat Performing Arts Center at Queensborough Community College, offers live plays and musical performances to the communities of outer Queens, New York. It is very popular as it is the only venue for live performances for those communities, but it’s physical appearance and infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate since its construction in the 1970s, with outdated sound and lighting systems, poor acoustics, poor cooling and ventilation systems, as well as a lack of accessibility and other theater amenities. Its overall appearance was termed “shabby”. Change was overdue.

With a limited budget Goshow Architects was asked to reconfigure and reengineer the theater – inside and out – to correct its deficiencies and transform it into a 21st Century venue for modern performances, fully accessible and using the latest theater technologies. Visually, the transformation was accomplished by enveloping the walls and ceiling in copper-colored and perforated acoustical metal folded plates – incorporating indirect lighting to create a soft glow throughout. The effect was termed by the college “the Radio City Music Hall of Queens”.

QPAC has received a 2024 Queens Chamber of Commerce Rehabilitation Design Award, and in 2025 SARA, the Society of American Registered Architects, awarded it a Design Award of Honor.