Buildings Ambassador Award and Award of Excellence
Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences Entuitive
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A cultural cornerstone The roots of the project go back to 2011, when a group of citizens identified the need for a new performing arts space. This led to the formation of LEPAA to raise private funds to design and construct the US$158-million project and then to own and operate it. The building brought together the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Lubbock, touring productions and the Lubbock Independent School District (LISD) to provide student access. Shaped for success The theatre features an audience chamber with a large main level and three horseshoe-shaped balconies to enhance proximity to the stage. Steel rakers cantilever up to 10 m from columns behind the theatre’s back wall to allow unobstructed views. Vibration on the balconies was a major consideration, given the cantilever length of the rakers. To ensure audience comfort, 24
CANADIAN CONSULTING ENGINEER
Entuitive used the horseshoe shape to its advantage by adding a steel tension ring member near the front of the balcony. The shape of the balconies required bending each of the steel members for the risers to follow the curvature of the space. On the lower balconies, standard beam sections were used for the risers, but on the uppermost balcony, the height of the risers meant they were not practical. An innovative custom steel ‘Z’ profile was created— not only curved, but also varied in height to follow the profile of the seating—by bending angles for the top and bottom of the profile, then welding on a variable-height steel plate for the web. In the three-storey main lobby, the most striking element is the monumental stair,
which is more than 17 m tall and uses 130 tonnes of steel. The thin outer edge and glass guard contrast with the solid white plastered central spine, which supports stair treads that cantilever up to 4.2 m. To form the helical shape, the steel was flexed in two directions through induction bending. The long spans and slender profile were particularly vulnerable to vibrations from human activity. After finite element modelling and analysis, a tuned mass damper (TMD) was added on the second and third flights. The seen and the unseen To keep the lobby space column-free, a 41-tonne truss, spanning more than 45 m, September/October 2022
PHOTO BY CA S EY DU N N, COU RT E SY E N T U I T I V E
he Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences is a new venue in Lubbock, Texas, with two theatres, a multi-purpose room, a ballet studio and a bistro. Collaborating with the Lubbock Entertainment and Performing Arts Association (LEPAA), Entuitive’s structural engineers designed the building’s 2,297-seat Christine DeVitt main theatre and the main lobby, which features a monumental stair.
