Celebrating the art of performance through design
Our facilities for performing arts and arts education support creativity, build communities, and bring joy. Through our profound understanding of the experiential qualities and the technical and social requirements of world-class performance venues, we provide design solutions that are innovative, aesthetically compelling, and operationally superior.
We have a reputation for award-winning design excellence and experience with performing arts centers across the country and the globe. Spaces for performance and arts education are are among our most beloved and rewarding projects. Through our collaborative process, which engages all stakeholders and is mindful of the economic and functional pressures that bear on institutions, we challenge our clients to rethink how they engage the public and present their missions.
Our buildings for performing arts create compelling physical presences that embody institutional aspirations. At the core of our practice is the belief that these spaces should be welcoming, accessible and inclusive for all users throughout all spaces. We design flexible venues that can be expediently reconfigured to suit a range of performance types and work collaboratively with acoustic, lighting, and other specialty consultants to develop innovative technical solutions that enhance operations. By establishing thoughtful interstitial and amenity spaces, and developing the entry progression from street to performance space, we elevate the audience experience and connect institutions to their surrounding urban and campus contexts. Our environmentally sustainable facilities reflect the progressive, optimistic spirit of their institutions.
Creating Iconic Spaces
We create iconic architecture grounded in the belief that, at its best, design communicates ideals, reinforces institutions, and acts as an agent of positive change.
Designing a performing arts facility is like directing a performance: It needs to touch people. The architecture should have a voice, a presence; it must inspire and hold people together. It should give life to what is about to happen, what is happening, and to the memories that are seen and heard afterward.
“I think Bing Concert Hall’s opening marks the beginning of a new era in the arts and I’m pleased that it’s going to be an interdisciplinary space and that it’s able to draw so much fellowship and good work.”
Jennifer Brody, Chair of the Dance and Theater Performance Department, Stanford University
We believe in aesthetic beauty, bold formal expression and proportional harmony, but our first concern is always to increase the touch-points and contact area between the mission of the institution and the community it is meant to serve. This can only be achieved through collaboration with our clients and a thorough understanding of their institutional mission and project goals. Whether projects are wholesale reinventions of institutional identity or “surgical” adjustments through renovations or additions that improve the user experience, our aim is to create designs that bridge the institution’s past and future.
Designing Spaces that are Inclusive and Accessible
Aligned with the belief that the arts should be for all and represent all, we prioritize equity and diversity within our practice and our designs for performance spaces.
We create facilities that build community through accessibility to diverse audiences, staff, and performers and are welcoming of all cultures and age groups. We ensure that high-quality performances can be experienced by those with mobility, visual and hearing impairments, and that all can celebrate and experience the joy of the arts.
Creating Flexible Spaces for Divergent and Emerging Performance Types
We design technology-enabled performance facilities where spaces are well-defined but also flexible enough to meet evolving needs and accommodate interdisciplinary programming.
Increasingly, we see formerly separate and disparate departments looking for ways to collaborate—generating the need for new kinds of adaptable spaces. Artistic vision can be enhanced rather than limited by thoughtful planning of physical space.
Our team brings the sensitivities and the technical skills to provide the appropriate level of flexibility for each institution’s needs. Our goal is to provide opportunities for creativity and custom expression. During the interactive planning process, we assess client’s goals to determine appropriate seating, technology, and layout options. Operational efficiency is at the core of our design process. Our facilities allow for expedient changeover to house performances both large and small across multiple disciplines. Flexibility can also support non-traditional uses and special events, expanding an institution’s role as a community asset.
Integrating Dynamic Technical Systems
We have a deep understanding of the technical challenges of varied types of performance spaces and how to resolve these needs while enhancing the audience experience.
Our experience with performing arts facilities has instilled in our team the importance of multidisciplinary teamwork and shaped our cooperative and iterative design process. Our consultant partners are our design partners. For performing arts projects, we work particularly closely with theatrical, acoustic, mechanical, and structural consultants to solve technical issues and explore innovative solutions that meet and often exceed our client’s aspirations and expectations.
“It’s unlike anything we’ve seen in the community and really around the country…We truly have a very special facility here in Omaha.”
Joan Squires, President, Omaha Performing Arts Society
A successful venue is designed not only for technical efficiency but also to facilitate an emotional exchange between performer and audience. Acoustic requirements (both room acoustics and isolation) determine the shape, volume and details of the room, while an intimate layout establishes a sympathetic relationship between the audience and performer. Favorable sight lines and excellent acoustics are fundamental to the memory and pleasurable enjoyment of the performance. The design process involves a careful balancing act between a distinct creative vision and problem solving across a wide variety of scales and issues.
Establishing a Memorable Audience Procession
Our understanding of the complex emotional response that performance spaces evoke and how architecture contributes to the visitor experience informs our designs.
Every aspect of a building shapes the way a visitor feels, from the street appearance to the touch of the door pull to the ticket counter exchange. The way a space sounds, where the light comes from, how visitors flow through exhibits or lobby space, how a stair feels on the foot—these are all critical components that shape a meaningful patron experience, and no detail is insignificant.
We design public spaces that meet the expectations of today’s performing arts patrons through amenities that expand the visitor experience beyond the performance. These include enhanced accessibility, restaurants, retail, bars, ample circulation space, comfortable seating arranged to encourage socializing, enhanced ticketing, patron lounge space, gallery space and, of course, ample restroom facilities. We pay close attention to every aspect of design to ensure a welcoming, exhilarating, and memorable experience for everyone.
Back-of-House
Our performance facilities incorporate a variety of spaces that contributes to an innovative and well-rounded environment, including technical support spaces, equipment storage and staging areas, administrative offices, attention to performer needs and issues of circulation. The ability of the new facility to foster innovation, be flexible and technically-advanced will all contribute to its success in dealing with future trends.
Our experience in performing arts is demonstrated by our substantial investment in the separate, yet relational configuration between a theater’s Front-of-House and Back-of-House. It is critical to balance the front-of-house expression with the equipment, technology and spatial requirements to fully support the mission of the facility.
Creating Sustainable Facilities
We are committed to creating timeless buildings that uplifts the human experience, delivers positive ecological impacts, and connects people to their communities.
Sustainable design is an essential objective from the early planning stages of any planning study or building. We approach sustainable design artfully, seeking out opportunities within the landscape that we, as designers, can transform into meaningful and humanistic architecture.
From day one, our designers think holistically about the site and the process, including social and historical context, to identify values, make commitments, and develop methods that maintain accountability for these established values and guiding design principles. Throughout the design process, we benchmark sustainability metrics using our Design Performance Opportunities checklist–an internal quality assurance document for tracking metrics in key performance categories. Prioritizing sustainability approaches into the design process is a fundamental value in our practice, and we will continue to evolve as the environmental story unfolds before us.
Concert Halls
Presentation styles within concert and recital halls are evolving, with venues hosting not only traditional symphonic performances but also dance, lectures, meetings and film presentations. Our designs for concert and recital halls allow for flexibility to accommodate new modalities, while also responding to the robust acoustic requirements for unamplified performances and fostering an intimate patron experience.
The Holland Performing Arts Center has moveable platforms allow the classical shoebox-shaped concert hall to adjust to a range of music and audience types.
Selected Clients
Carnegie Hall
Cincinnati Music Hall
Omaha Performing Arts
Robinson Center
Stanford University
The International Performance Center
Xiamen Music Center
The Robinson Center renovation and expansion improves the acoustic performance of the performance hall.
Theaters and Black Box Performance Spaces
We create iconic theaters that support dynamic and immersive performer-patron experiences. Ranging from traditional proscenium theaters to non-traditional performance spaces, our theaters are designed to accommodate a range of emerging performance types, elevating rather than limiting artistic vision.
Selected Clients
Branksome Hall
City University of New York
Connecticut College
The Ed Sullivan Theater
The International Performance Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Manhattan Theatre Club
New York City Center
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The Ohio State University
Oklahoma City Music Hall
Peter Norton Symphony Space
The Public Theater
Robinson Center
Shenzhen Conservatory of Music
Yerba Buena Gardens
Live Music Venues
We design multi-use theaters that accommodate both amplified and non-amplified performances.
Selected Clients
Cincinnati Music Hall
Oklahoma City Music Hall
Peter Norton Symphony Space
Steelhouse Omaha
Yerba Buena Gardens
Ampitheaters
Our designs for amphitheaters draw fluid boundaries between the interior and exterior user experience to establish dynamic public outdoor spaces. While responding to technical requirements that support a multitude of performance types, our amphitheaters transcend the primary function of the space to create community “living rooms.”
Selected Clients
Delacorte Theater, Central Park
The Old Globe Theater
The Santa Fe Opera
Tanglewood Music
Academic and Teaching Theaters
Our academic theaters contribute to campus identities and promote the arts as a critical part of the educational experience. By designing spaces that are appropriately scaled to student performances and incorporate accessible technology, we create facilities that function both as performance venue and teaching tool.
Selected Clients
Allegheny College
Branksome Hall
City University of New York
Connecticut College
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
Hamilton College
Mercersburg Academy
Omaha Performing Arts Center
New York University
Yale University
Yale Repertory Theater
University of Florida Phillips Center
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina
Shenzhen Conservatory of Music
Renovation and Additions to Historic Theaters
Our approach to historic building restoration and adaptation is defined by the belief that signature buildings from past eras should be respected, but not replicated. Our renovations and additions for historic theaters not only accommodate contemporary technologies and operational requirements, but also revitalize institutional identities, rendering welcoming, vibrant, and accessible destinations that blend old and new.
Selected Clients
Carnegie Hall
Connecticut College
Delacorte Theater, Central Park
The Public Theater
Manhattan Theatre Club
New York City Center
The Old Globe Theater
Robinson Center
Cincinnati Music Hall
Ennead’s Performing Arts Center Leadership
Ennead’s Centers of Excellence were established to codify the firm’s experience in specific typologies to optimize and share expertise across the office. Each Center is led by senior Ennead staff who bring deep typological knowledge and and are recognized leaders in their respective markets.
Stephen Chu
Performing Arts Center Leader
Francelle Lim
Performing Arts Center Leader
“Ennead Architects has given The Public—and New York really—a brand new home…This space is an opportunity for artists and for regular folks who like art to mingle and I think that is what new York is all about—it’s about public space, about the way different kinds of people, different classes of people, people in different vocations can interact with each other. That’s what it’s all about here and why we live in the City.“
Stew (née Mark Stewart), Performer, creator of Passing Strange
“Ennead Architects has given The Public—and New York really—a brand new home…This space is an opportunity for artists and for regular folks who like art to mingle and I think that is what new York is all about—it’s about public space, about the way different kinds of people, different classes of people, people in different vocations can interact with each other. That’s what it’s all about here and why we live in the City.“
Stew (née Mark Stewart), Performer, creator of Passing Strange
Stephen Chu is a Design Principal at Ennead Architects. With over 25 years of experience, Stephen has worked in a broad range of sectors, including educational, cultural, and commercial. Specializing in the Performing Arts Stephen’s international award-winning work reaches a broad range of audiences in the public realm. His approach to design is a holistic process starting from a deep understanding of the client goals, mission, and aspirations.
Committed to the stewardship of NYC’s rich built environment and open spaces, Stephen currently serves as a Commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission assisting in the protection and designation of culturally, historically, and architecturally significant sites.
Performing Arts Experience
The International Performance Center, Shenzhen, China
Omaha Performing Arts, Steelhouse Omaha, Omaha, NE
Omaha Performing Arts Campus Expansion, Omaha, NE
Delacorte Theater, Central Park, New York, NY
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts Concept Design, Houston, TX
Omaha Performing Arts, Planning Study, Omaha, NE
The Public Theater Rehearsal Halls, New York, NY
The Public Theater at Astor Place Master Plan, New York, NY
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Fredrick P. Rose Hall, Public Space Redesign, New York, NY
Stanford University, Bing Concert Hall, Stanford, CA
The Public Theater at Astor Place Façade Restoration Entry and Lobby Redesign, New York, NY
New York City Center Renovation, New York, NY
Manhattan Theatre Club, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Renovation, New York, NY
The Public Theater Production Support Renovation, New York, NY
Francelle Lim brings wide-ranging experience encompassing firm-wide and project management, both with an emphasis on a collaborative team approach. This approach extends to clients for whom she is often the primary contact. Francelle is adept at managing projects with multiple stakeholders with complex building programs locally, nationally, and abroad. Her experience as a design, technical, and management architect shapes her wholistic approach to project management. In addition to managing project schedules and budgets, Francelle’s approach includes striving for project excellence and ensuring each project aligns with the client’s goals and mission.
Performing Arts Experience
The International Performance Center, Shenzhen, China
Cincinnati Music Hall Revitalization, Cincinnati, OH
Omaha Performing Arts Campus Expansion, Omaha, NE
Delacorte Theater, Central Park, New York, NY
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts Concept Design, Houston, TX
Omaha Performing Arts, Planning Study, Omaha, NE
The Public Theater Rehearsal Halls, New York, NY
Connecticut College, Athey Center for Performance and Research at Palmer Auditorium, New London, CT
University of Florida, Phillips Center Feasibility Study and Renovation, Gainesville, FL
Robinson Center Renovation and Expansion
Little Rock, AR
Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM