David Geffen Hall boasts many innovations, including a new welcome center, a 50-foot-wide digital screen and, most important, a revamped auditorium. But for some concertgoers, the most important change may be more practical: the bathrooms.
Before the renovation, finding a restroom could be excruciating, especially for women. At intermission, lines snaked through the lobby and jams formed near sinks and paper-towel dispensers.
In the new hall, the number of toilets and urinals has risen by more than 50 percent, to 138 from 91. There are now 75 toilets for women, compared with 47 before the renovation, and 52 toilets or urinals for men, compared with 41 earlier.
“Bathrooms too often are simply done to meet codes,” the architect Billie Tsien, who worked on the public spaces, said on the eve of the reopening. “But if you have a bad experience — it colors your entire experience. This is especially true when at a theater.”
Because the new Geffen Hall has some 500 fewer seats than the old one, fewer people are expected to be using the facilities at any given time, further helping reduce congestion.
So there will now be one toilet or urinal for every 15 audience members, according to Lincoln Center, compared with one for every 35 before the renovation.
