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
Cultural Facilities | Sep 11, 2019
The Kennedy Center expands for the first time since its 1971 debut
The REACH, with three pavilions on a generous lawn, adds openness and light to this performance space.
Performing Arts Centers | Jan 31, 2019
The Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center begins construction
AUX Architecture designed the building.
Performing Arts Centers | Jan 24, 2019
This is the first performance complex in Asia devoted to pop music
Reiser + Umemoto designed the facility.
Performing Arts Centers | Aug 21, 2018
The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts receives $50 million expansion
Leo A Daly designed the expansion.
Performing Arts Centers | Mar 23, 2018
Frank Gehry selected to design Colburn School Expansion
The expansion will add three performance venues to the downtown L.A. campus.
Performing Arts Centers | Mar 15, 2018
BIG designs bow tie-shaped building for the National Theatre of Albania
The project is a 3-in-1 cultural venue in downtown Tirana.
Performing Arts Centers | Feb 20, 2018
Citrus trees inspired the design of this half-billion-dollar performing arts center
SPF:architects designed the complex.
Performing Arts Centers | Sep 11, 2017
19th century smokestack highlights a Massachusetts performing arts facility
CBT Architects and Windover Construction collaborated on the adaptive reuse project for Middlesex School.
Performing Arts Centers | Jun 30, 2017
L.A.’s John Anson Ford Amphitheater might finally be ready for its close-up
The performing arts venue, nearly a century old, has undergone an extensive refurbishing.
Performing Arts Centers | May 8, 2017
The performing arts center of the future
For more than 15 years, LPA has completed many projects for the East Central Independent School District (ECISD), and the Performing Arts Center is just one example of how a research-based, collaborative process can improve outcomes.
