Design Team Finishes $250M Master Plan

The project site on the southeast quadrant of the arts district is situated between Ross Avenue and Woodall Rogers Freeway. To date, $132 million in donations for the privately funded complex have been collected from individuals, foundations and corporations.

With the master plan done, the world-renowned architectural teams will focus on the buildings, the sizes of which have yet to be firmly established, says a contact for the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation.

The master plan design was led by Spencer de Grey of Foster and Partners in London and Joshua Ramus of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) of Rotterdam and New York City. A grand plaza, larger than Lincoln Center Plaza in New York City, will stand as the project centerpiece as well as the arts district's eastern side, also home to the Trammell Crow Asian Art Museum. The plaza, with water features, opens up opportunities for outdoor performances and cafes and markets.

The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House has been positioned on the plaza's north side and northeast of the existing Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. A multiform theater will sit on the plaza's south side and a third arts venue will be placed east of the multiform theaters. East of the proposed Winspear Opera House is the renovated Annette Strauss Artist Square, where the plan is to double the 5,000 available seats.

The City of Dallas, the Dallas Opera and the performing arts groups spent $13 million to acquire the land in 2001, triggering an international competition for the lead job, with the architectural awards coming in December of that year. OMA is designing the multiform theater and Foster and Partners is the lead architect on the Winspear Opera House. Two months ago, Theatre Projects Consultants, with offices in London, Toronto, Singapore and South Norwalk, CT, was hired to assist in the structures' designs.