The Weston Performing Arts Center is a venue for hands-on training, teaching and assessment of students in the performing arts. The theater functions as a didactic instrument, using architectural devices to frame the particular rituals, practices, and events that it houses. The Performing Arts Center is designed as a building with six faces. The main public face features horizontal louvers that recall the bars of a musical score, protecting the building from the summers’ harsh sunlight while embracing the winter rays to warm the interior, the louvers metamorphose from a long bench into a stair, a countertop, shelves for the bar/refreshment area, and finally become bleachers outside.

The two additional fronts, the ground and the roof, engage the surroundings in creative ways. A “Fifth face,” the lower level of the courtyard, functions as a stage for outdoor performances. The “Sixth face” caps the building: a green roof that contributes to the sustainability of the project, and helps to integrate the building with its natural landscape.

Project Design: Monica Ponce De Leon, Nader Tehrani

Design Team: Michael Tunkey, Ghazal Abbasy, Hamad Al-sultan, Krists Karklins, Fisher Dachs, Julian Palacio, R. Shane Williamson, Paul Teben, Katja Gischas, Mariana Mogilevich, Daniel Gallagher, Sean Baccei, Penn Ruderman, Joel Lamere, Ahmed Al Husseiny, Wynne Munn, Elaine Chow, Ethan Kuschner, Cynthia Gunadi, Lisa Huang, David Jefferis
Acoustics: Jaffe Holden Acoustics, Inc.

Theater Consultant: Fischer Dachs