Buddy Holly Performing Arts Center Honors a Musical Legend

by Marcy Marro | August 2, 2021 12:00 am

Completed in January 2021, the 220,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art venue features a variety of unique spaces including two indoor theaters, rehearsal spaces, a restaurant and an outdoor amphitheater.

Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc.[1], Toronto, along with associate architects MWM Architects[2], Lubbock, and Parkhill[3], Lubbock, the project is inspired by the colors and shapes of the West Texas landscape. Its modern design reflects the prismatic and layered rock formations of Texas canyons.

The north façade is gently sloping and eclipses the taller south façade, which envelopes the main theater. Using long overhangs, angled concrete fins and deep-set ribbon windows to cool the building and filter light without obstructing views, the façade creates shading that counters the area’s extreme temperature fluctuations.

The metal paneling was inspired by from the local landscape, reflecting sunsets and sunrises to mimic the nearby painted canyons, while also helping to balance the extreme temperature fluctuations and maintain occupant comfort. Moon Township, Pa.-based CENTRIA supplied its Formawall Insulated Metal Panels and Fomavue Integrated Windows, which were installed by EWS Texas Inc., Richland Hills, Texas.

Inside, the music venue features a 13-ton stair that is shaped like a funnel cloud to remember the tragic tornado of 1970. The stair is comprised of double-axis HSS tubing and is supported only by cantilevered steel at each floor level. There is ornamental steel throughout the facility used for handrails, and Diamond Schmitt Architects developed the custom ornamental steel plate guards used in the lobby stairs.

The main theater structure is framed entirely in structural steel, which Matthew Lella, principal and lead architect with Diamond Schmitt, says was no small feat as it curves in two planes throughout. As he explains, the complex balcony curves both in plan and elevation as the shapes dip toward the center to achieve optimal views for the seating.

Additionally, there is a feature wall consisting of more than 9,000 aluminum brushed bronze guitar picks in an array of sizes depicting Buddy Holly playing a Stratocaster guitar. The metal rainscreen feature wall allows donor names to be etched on each of the individual guitar picks.

The $158 million project, which is targeting LEED Silver, features 25,000 square feet of doors and glazing from YKK AP America Inc.[4], Austell, Ga. YKK AP supplied a variety of products, including its YCW 750 SSG 2.5 x 10.5, 50XT thermal doors, YCW 750 SSG 2.5 x 7.5, YWW 45TU window wall 2 x 4.5, 35XT thermal doors, YWE 60T 2.25 x 6-inch, 35D doors and YSK 750 sloped glazing.

“Steel played a large underlying role in the design of the building: it allowed for fluid circulation, a column-free lobby and a clear south façade,” says Lella. “Its essential use is featured in the exuberant multi-radiused stair, and it also serves in the heavy structural work at the base of the four-fingered sculptural columns under the building’s signature bird’s tail.”

The facility can accommodate large touring musicals as well as intimate dance performances. It is home to Ballet Lubbock, the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Lubbock Independent School District Visual and Performing Arts, and Broadway producer The American Theater Guild.

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/buddy-holly-performing-arts-center-honors-a-musical-legend/

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