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Staff -- Interior Design, 2/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Frozen Music

Arts and architecture types mingled as New York's Kaufman Center, originally designed by Johansen & Bhavnani, unveiled a $17 million eight-month renovation by Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Opening night for the venue's Merkin Concert Hall featured Aaron Jay Kernis conducting his own compositions as well as Aaron Copland's. The program also included soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and the center's teen ensemble, Face the Music.

1. Interior Design Hall of Fame member Robert A.M. Stern with Bethany Millard, chairman of the board of the Kaufman Center, and Leonard Goodman, honorary chair.

2. The 1978 facade's new panels of translucent channel glass.

3. Acoustical consultant Jaffe Holden's Mark Holden and Robert A.M. Stern Architects partner Alexander Lamis, lead architect for the project, chatting with Miranda Johnson and Noelle Ike of Face the Music.

4. The crowd in the Merkin Concert Hall's lobby.

5. All glasses raised to toast the grand opening.

6. Lewis Larocca and Richie Havens, cofounders of children's media firm Sharing World Entertainment, flanking Kaufman Center executive director Lydia Kontos.

Kuo & Co.

SoHo claimed another flagship as Robert Kuo opened the doors of his New York showroom and gallery. Vignettes assembled furniture, lighting, and accessories, all artisan-crafted in China, along with Asian antiques personally selected by Kuo. Partygoers circulated around the showroom's burbling fountain, set in front of a wall covered in his beloved copper repoussé.

7. The designer and his family: Albert Chou, Karen Kuo Chou, Chin Chin Kuo, Robert Kuo, and Alice Kuo.

8. Interior Design Hall of Famer William Sofield.

9. Ducduc communications director David Harris and Tocar Interior Design president and cofounder Susan Bednar Long.

10. Hall of Famer Jamie Drake browsing.

11. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects project architect Susan Son and TEK Architects principal and cofounder Charles Thanhauser.

12. The 4,000-square-foot showroom with its 18-foot ceiling.