David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic. The facility, designed by Max Abramovitz, was originally named Philharmonic Hall and was renamed Avery Fisher Hall in honor of philanthropist Avery Fisher, who donated $10.5 million ($ million today) to the orchestra in 1973. In November 2014, Lincoln Center officials announced Fisher's name would be removed from the Hall so that naming rights could be sold to the highest bidder as part of a $500 million fund-raising campaign to refurbish the Hall. In 2015, the Hall acquired its present name after David Geffen donated $100 million to the Lincoln Center. Renovations 20th-century renovations The Hall underwent extensive renovations in 1976, to address acoustical problems that had been present since its opening. Another, smaller renovation attempted to address still-unresolved problems in 1992. Both projects achieved limited success. 21st-century renovation Lincoln Center invited nine architects to submit plans for Avery Fisher Hall's renovation in 2002, selecting three architecture firms as finalists that June. In May 2004, the orchestra announced that the building would undergo renovations in 2009. Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, was hired in 2005 to design a renovation of the Hall, but he later resigned from the project. In June 2006, The New York Times reported that the construction had been delayed until the summer of 2010. By 2012, the project's start date had been postponed to 2017. The shell of the building was to be left intact, and work was to focus on improving the hall's acoustics, modernizing patron amenities, and reconfiguring the auditorium. On November 13, 2014, Lincoln Center officials announced their intention to remove Avery Fisher's name from the Hall and sell naming rights to the highest bidder as part of a $500 million fundraising campaign for its refurbishment. Lincoln Center chairwoman Katherine Farley said, "It will be an opportunity for a major name on a great New York jewel." Fisher's three children agreed to the deal for $15 million. In September 2015, Geffen donated $100 million for the Hall's renovation, and the Hall was renamed for him. Geffen's donation of $100 million was seen as a jump-start for the planned renovation, but on October 3, 2017, the Philharmonic announced that existing renovation plans for the