Brown and REX released the first renderings of the building, previewing its design and detailing the wide range of innovative spaces rehearsal and performance within the PAC. The Corporation of Brown University approved site work to begin in preparation for the construction of the building at its winter meeting. ​

Brown relocated the historic Sharpe House, home to history department faculty and staff, from its longtime location on Angell Street to a new home on Brown Street, opening the site to enable future development of Brown’s planned PAC.  ​

Brown announced that as part of a $31.6 million gift from generous donors Diana Nelson and John Atwater, $20 million would create the Diana Nelson and John Atwater Lobby in the PAC. The lobby is conceived as a visually striking, welcoming space surrounded nearly entirely by glass — as envisioned, it not only be an informal space for day-to-day student use, but will also be opened for gatherings, performances, events and other functions.

The Providence City Plan Commission approved an amendment to Brown’s Institutional Master Plan, providing the authorization by the city required for the University to proceed with plans to build the PAC according to its revised plan. One month later, the Brown Corporation formally approved the site at its annual May meeting.

After completing the program validation process and assessing feedback from the community, Brown revised plans for the PAC, reducing its above-ground footprint and shifting the building north to a smaller plan on The Walk between Angell and Olive streets. The revised plan preserve historic structures and remained true to the University’s academic goals for a central campus hub for the performing arts on College Hill.

Brown selected the award-winning, New York City-based architecture firm REX — known for its imaginative approach to cultural buildings — to design the PAC. The University also unveiled plans to locate the building on a site between Waterman and Angell streets on The Walk near the heart of a cluster of arts facilities on campus.

For decades, Brown had envisioned the creation of a major performance space that would serve as a hub for music, dance, theater and multimedia arts on campus. Early in 2017, Brown took a critical step toward realizing that vision, publicly unveiling its vision after a vote by the Brown Corporation authorized the University to commence the selection of an architect to design a new performing arts center.