Lopez Salas Architects, Inc.

Owner:

Alamo Colleges

Architect:

Lopez Salas Architects

General Contractor:

Spaw Glass

Scope Of Work

The Performing Arts Center is a 45,198 SF facility that boasts three performance spaces. The main theater seats up to 400 and includes a 100-seat Black Box theater and support facilities for props and personnel operations. The facility includes classrooms, practice rooms, rehearsal spaces, recording studios/control room, dance studios, faculty offices, lecture rooms, and offices for a Theater Manager. The theater included 3 recording studios; one group and  two solo studios, with a PoTools HD recording system with MIDI capabilities in the Master recording suite.

The Convocation Center was designed within the framework of the new Master Plan. The building was to be a landmark structure to serve as the public face and gateway to the campus. LSA took that challenge and designed a building that reflects a sense of volume and movement carried through to the exterior in an exuberant and expressive manner. The bold use of color and playful elements express the joyful creativity of the functions contained within, as they manifest themselves on the surface and a reflection of the heritage of the community it serves. The floor plan is organized to provide a natural flow of circulation while emphasizing departmental cohesiveness.  The dance studio is day-lit by saw-tooth clerestory windows that provide diffused natural light to gently wash over the ceiling and establish an uplifting connection to the sky and outdoors. At its conceptual core, the Palo Alto Performing Arts Center is an expression of playful, kinetic form that creates movement using static elements of stone, stucco, metal, and glass. LSA was also engaged to provide a comprehensive furniture package for FF&E. 

The Performing Arts Center received the 2009 Golden Trowel Award from the San Antonio Masonry Contractors Association “First Place - Block Category; Superior Design.”