Winspear Opera House / Foster + Partners

Curated by Igor Fracalossi

Architects: Foster + Partners
Year: 2009
Manufacturers: POHL, Skyfold, Acme Brick, Basaltina, Casavant, Enterprise Precast Concrete, Fellert, Figaro system, Formglas, Gala Systems, St. Cloud Window, Theater Solutions, Whitley Construction Company, Zahner
Services Engineers: Battle McCarthy, CHP & Associates
Structural Engineers: Buro Happold, Thornton Tomasetti
Lighting Consultant: Claude Engle Lighting Consultant
Transportation Consulting: Deshazo, Tang
Sound System Design: Engineering Harmonics
Geotechnical Engineers: GME Consulting Services Inc., Landscape Designers Michel Desvigne, JJR, Kevin Sloan
Main Contractor: Linbeck
Elevator Consultant: Persohn Hahn Associates
Acoustician: Sound Space Design

Text description provided by the architects. The new Winspear Opera House in Dallas redefines the essence of an opera house for the twenty first century, breaking down barriers to make opera more accessible for a wider audience. Responding to the Dallas climate, a generous solar canopy extends from the building, revealing below a fully glazed sixty foot high lobby. This establishes a direct relationship between inside and outside, enhancing transparency. Beneath the canopy, which forms an integral part of the environmental strategy - a shaded pedestrian plaza creates a major new public space for Dallas, defined by the masterplan for the Performing Arts District. The masterplan was designed by Foster + Partners and OMA with Michel Desvigne.