flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences opens

Performing Arts Centers

The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences opens

Diamond Schmitt designed the project, which is named for Lubbock native Buddy Holly.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | February 23, 2021
Buddy Holly Hall exterior

All photos: Casey Dunn

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.

 

Buddy Holly main auditorium

 

"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.

 

Buddy Holly Hall Lobby

 

The facility is targeting LEED Silver.

Related Stories

| May 20, 2014

Kinetic Architecture: New book explores innovations in active façades

The book, co-authored by Arup's Russell Fortmeyer, illustrates the various ways architects, consultants, and engineers approach energy and comfort by manipulating air, water, and light through the layers of passive and active building envelope systems.

| May 19, 2014

What can architects learn from nature’s 3.8 billion years of experience?

In a new report, HOK and Biomimicry 3.8 partnered to study how lessons from the temperate broadleaf forest biome, which houses many of the world’s largest population centers, can inform the design of the built environment.

| May 13, 2014

19 industry groups team to promote resilient planning and building materials

The industry associations, with more than 700,000 members generating almost $1 trillion in GDP, have issued a joint statement on resilience, pushing design and building solutions for disaster mitigation.

| May 11, 2014

Final call for entries: 2014 Giants 300 survey

BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 survey forms are due Wednesday, May 21. Survey results will be published in our July 2014 issue. The annual Giants 300 Report ranks the top AEC firms in commercial construction, by revenue.

| May 2, 2014

World's largest outdoor chandelier tops reworked streetscape for Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare

Streetscape project includes monumental gateway portals, LED signage, and a new plaza, fire pit, sidewalk café, and alfresco dining area. 

| Apr 29, 2014

USGBC launches real-time green building data dashboard

The online data visualization resource highlights green building data for each state and Washington, D.C.

| Apr 16, 2014

Upgrading windows: repair, refurbish, or retrofit [AIA course]

Building Teams must focus on a number of key decisions in order to arrive at the optimal solution: repair the windows in place, remove and refurbish them, or opt for full replacement.

| Apr 11, 2014

First look: KPF's designs for DreamWorks in the massive Shanghai DreamCenter

Two blocks of offices will be centerpiece of new cultural and lifestyle district in the West Bund Media Port.

| Apr 9, 2014

Steel decks: 11 tips for their proper use | BD+C

Building Teams have been using steel decks with proven success for 75 years. Building Design+Construction consulted with technical experts from the Steel Deck Institute and the deck manufacturing industry for their advice on how best to use steel decking.

| Apr 2, 2014

8 tips for avoiding thermal bridges in window applications

Aligning thermal breaks and applying air barriers are among the top design and installation tricks recommended by building enclosure experts.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category



Performing Arts Centers

Frank Gehry-designed expansion of the Colburn School performing arts center set to break ground

In April, the Colburn School, an institute for music and dance education and performance, will break ground on a 100,000-sf expansion designed by architect Frank Gehry. Located in downtown Los Angeles, the performing arts center will join the neighboring Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand by Gehry, forming the largest concentration of Gehry-designed buildings in the world.


Giants 400

Top 35 Performing Arts Center and Concert Venue Construction Firms for 2023

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Holder Construction, McCarthy Holdings, Clark Group, and Gilbane Building Company top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest performing arts center and concert venue general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.

halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021