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| Groundbreaking of Dallas Winspear Opera House The groundbreaking of Foster and Partners’ Winspear Opera House was celebrated at an impressive ceremony on November 10. The new opera house will be the principal performance venue in the new Performing Arts District of Dallas, staging opera, ballet, music-theatre and other large-scale productions. The new building represents a radical rethinking of the traditional opera house. It inverts the closed, hierarchical form creating a transparent, publicly welcoming series of spaces that wrap around the rich red drum of the 2, 200-seat auditorium. Responding to the specific demands of the Dallas climate, an expansive canopy provides sheltered respite from the hot sun and creates its own microclimate. This inside-outside transitional space extends the building out to the public realm, the new grand plaza, which is further extended when the whole east faзade is opened up with its vertical sliding glass panels. The building is transparent, its glass walls revealing views of the public concourse, upper-level foyers and grand staircase. Entered beneath the solar canopy, the transition from the Grand Plaza, through the foyer, into the auditorium is designed to heighten the drama of attending a performance - in effect, ‘to take the theatre to the audience’. The design of the opera house follows Foster and Partner’s masterplan for the Performing Arts District, which will eventually encompass performing arts buildings designed by Pritzker Prize winners: Rem Koolhaas, IM Pei and Renzo Piano. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Construction News :: home page |