Wolfe Center for the Arts

Snøhetta Architects – Wolfe Center for the Arts, Bowling Green, OH USA, 2011

Wolfe Center has a unique program that combines a wide range of art studies into a socially enterprising structure aimed at encouraging lively interaction between students and faculty. The plans for the building include three performance spaces: a proscenium theater which will provide space for large-scale productions of musical theater, opera and classical theater; a studio theater for the presentation of the most diverse artistic programs, including theater for young audiences and the productions of new theatrical performances, and an actor's theater to provide space for experimental productions that integrate spoken word and body movement with digital and sound technology.

Snøhetta has created a large open room that welcomes the visitor from the main entrance. Spacious and sunlit, the lobby offers views towards the living rooms, classrooms and studios of art, music and theater departments on the second level. Located in the heart of the building, the proscenium theater seats 400 people and can be used for a variety of performance programs. It is designed in the style of the great Broadway theaters found in New York City and London. To meet the highest contemporary criteria for a theater of this type, Snøhetta is working closely with internationally recognized theater planners Theater Project Consultants and Akustiks.