West Texas’s largest dedicated performance venue, The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences, has opened in Lubbock, Texas.
The 218,000-sf hall will serve the community’s needs and anchor Lubbock’s arts and culture district. Performances and programs will be held in the 2,297-seat Helen DeVitt Jones Theater, the more intimate 415-person Crickets Theater, and other flexible spaces for rehearsal and performance. Seating in the Helen DeVitt Jones Theater can be reconfigured to accommodate the hall’s range of programming. The orchestra seating section can be set for traditional raked fixed-chair seating or for popular flat-floor general admission. Also included are a restaurant, two multi-purpose rooms, and an outdoor covered amphitheater.
The design of the $158 million hall was inspired by the colors and shapes of the landscape of West Texas. The building’s facades balance various approaches to creating shade to counter the South Plains Region of Texas’s extreme temperature fluctuations. A long overhang, angled concrete fins, and deep-set ribbon windows all act as architectural drapery to cool the building and filter light without obstructing views of the vistas surrounding the hall.
"Responding to the unique challenges of the site—from the intense Texas heat to its location in a flood plain—we have created a signature new space for the performing arts with world-class facilities that embody the spirit of the performers who will be gracing its stages,” said Matthew Lella, Principal at Diamond Schmitt, in a release.
The layout of the interior spaces will accommodate the hall’s wide-ranging performance line-up, which will include hosting ballet, symphony, school, opera, pop, and country performances; Broadway productions; and statewide band and choir competitions. Through the use of glass at ground-level entrances, the indoors and outdoors blend to create a seamless transition for visitors entering and exiting the hall. Inside, the building moves from spacious lobbies to more liminal spaces leading to several intimate studios and The Buddy Holly Hall’s two signature theaters.
The facility is targeting LEED Silver.
Related Stories
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.
| Sep 22, 2014
Sound selections: 12 great choices for ceilings and acoustical walls
From metal mesh panels to concealed-suspension ceilings, here's our roundup of the latest acoustical ceiling and wall products.
| Sep 9, 2014
Using Facebook to transform workplace design
As part of our ongoing studies of how building design influences human behavior in today’s social media-driven world, HOK’s workplace strategists had an idea: Leverage the power of social media to collect data about how people feel about their workplaces and the type of spaces they need to succeed.
| Sep 3, 2014
New designation launched to streamline LEED review process
The LEED Proven Provider designation is designed to minimize the need for additional work during the project review process.
| Sep 2, 2014
Ranked: Top green building sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
AECOM, Gensler, and Turner top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms.
| Aug 25, 2014
Ranked: Top cultural facility sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Arup, Gensler, and Turner head BD+C's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from cultural facility projects, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction market benefits from improving economy, new technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following years of fairly lackluster demand for commercial property remodeling, reconstruction revenue is improving, according to the 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, Turner, and Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, URS, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HDR, and HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.