Moody Performance Hall

The 59,250 SF building features a 750-seat proscenium theatre, a multilevel lobby, function space, backstage support spaces, and offices. This is the first phase of a multi-phase project which will eventually include two flexible theatres, an art gallery, a café, and rehearsal and classroom space.

Schuler Shook provided theatre consulting and architectural lighting design services.

Within the auditorium, LED colour-changing wash lights illuminate the upper ceiling with colour. Dimmable LED wall-grazers add warmth to the room. Dimmable fluorescent coves provide under-balcony illumination. Between the lobby and the auditorium, two light wells allow daylight into the auditorium when desired. LED colour-changing fixtures at the bottom of the wells allow the addition of colour. In both the lobby and auditorium, the balcony edge railings include colour-changing LED marker lights that allow further customization in the appearance of the room.

Schuler Shook partnered with a team led by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Corgan Associates to create an architectural program for the ​“third performance venue” that was part of Dallas’s Arts District Master Plan. Schuler Shook’s theatre planners developed technical criteria for each space within the program and actively assisted in the design of the stage, seating plan and section, integration of technical levels, and back of house support spaces.

In lieu of a traditional grand curtain, the stage has a unique LED mesh ​“curtain” with a black traveler behind. Schuler Shook and SOM envisioned this as a canvas for commissioned art. Schuler Shook researched the technology and specified the curtain construction and control system. LED colour-changing nodes are located on 8” centres and controlled through an ETC Mosaic system. The curtain becomes a palette for electronic art. Artists are commissioned to create active display on the curtain – a contemporary version of the artwork often painted on stage curtains of old.

In the lobby, Schuler Shook’s lighting designers helped create a welcoming space for mingling before and after the show. Wall-washer and downlight cylinders peek through the upper wood ceiling panels to provide general lighting and illuminate the concrete walls. Along the balcony, metal halide wall-grazers and wall-washers are aligned to draw attention to the main entrances of the auditorium. The main lobby includes mounting locations and power for theatrical lighting, to support special events in this space.

Scores of area arts groups participated in the programming activities. Schuler Shook used input from meetings, interviews, and correspondence to assess the performing arts community’s needs and the availability and appropriateness of existing performance facilities. Using these data, Schuler Shook’s theatre planners created a matrix of all the desired spaces indicating proposed square footage for each. These were developed into six conceptual design schemes; each was then evaluated for cost and site layout.

After design selection and approval of the program, the design team moved forward planning the facility. Schuler Shook further developed technical criteria for each space within the program and actively assisted in the design of the stage, seating plan and section, integration of technical levels, and back of house support spaces.

Moody Performance Hall is the first newly constructed theatre to achieve LEED Platinum certification.