I went to the new Main Street Garden a couple of weeks ago for the Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting event. While maybe 20% of the park was still under construction, it is mostly a very pleasant, urban-feely and cool place to be. There is a white pavilion which will house a café, a shallow rushing-water pond, child’s play area, several smaller pavilions for group seating and a large grassy area. The crowning feature in my book is a restored circus-style “PARK” sign in one corner that used to be the signage of an old parking garage.

Flanking the park on each side is the Mercantile Place mid-rise loft building, a UNT System building, the old Municipal building (which is being restored as the new home of UNT’s law school), and the stellar/unfortunate, Statler Hilton. So it is only about two blocks in size, is in a highly car-trafficked area and is soon to be home of many college students studying, city dwellers walking dogs and policemen keeping the benches free from the homeless (as Mayor Tom Leppert promised).

So, it’s no Central Park but it’s a step in the right direction. And, this is 1 of 4 or 5 parks going in around downtown, with the Woodall Rogers “Deck Park” up next. Like an article I read about this said, “Now all’s we need is a bookstore and a dry cleaner and downtown will be really livable.”

As promised, here is a little photo trip of Friday’s events at the Grand Opening of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. It began with another oh-so-convenient ride on the DART (though it’s getting quite pricey…surely the Green line didn’t cost that much) and the short walk to the Arts District where we were once again greeted by the towering Wyly Theatre and the welcoming Winspear Opera House. If the Wyly was industrial and raw, the Winspear was classy and refined in its design. Lord (as he was knighted in 1990 by the Queen) Norman Foster gave a superb urbanism lecture at 10AM. I wish every suburbanite could have heard. It was a good “coming back to Jesus” talk about how people naturally flock to urban areas and the way many American cities have grown too attached to the automobile (ahem, Houston – it is the leader).

Here I snapped a sneak peak at the world-famous architect. You can see more of his notable works here.

Basically, the opera house is showcased as a giant (and bright glossy red) ovular extrusion surrounded by a transparent atrium. Even further, a light (in visual weight) white canopy shades the entire space, inside and out, creating a bright and friendly public pedestrian zone. It is truly the gem and heart of the Arts District.

The beautiful red glass that gives the venue its distinct look is what makes it stand out from all across the city. There are even areas where LED text is illuminated from behind, displaying current events and wayfinding graphics.

Inside you find a very simple yet polished, functional theater. There are a whopping 4 balconies above the orchestra section and each are clad in a striking gold texture. One aspect I found disappointing was the seemingly missing chandelier that was previously hailed as the cherry-on-top feature. In its place were a number of recessed lights, probably fifty, each growing brighter and then dim as if they were stars in the sky. Oh well, I thought, what I came for was the lecture anyway…

But wait. Just as the lecture was completed and the house lights grew brighter, the star of the show took over as those very recessed lights produced long glass tubes of light, elongating and lowering into the theater. There were quite a many gasps and gazes upward as everyone froze to see this spectacular grand finale. As you can see, the chandelier smartly complimented the space.

After a lunch break, we came back for the final lecture: Joshua Prince-Ramus of REX in New York. His talk featured an explanation of the Wyly Theatre with all its bells and whistles. There are so many hidden features of the project. Whenever you get a chance to visit Dallas, you must take a look – or book tickets for an event. The venue will be just as rewarding to view as the show.

He continued with presentations on REX’s current and upcoming projects, all very interesting.

After his lecture, all the shades in the glazing surrounding the theater were raised, to engulf the place with light and views to downtown as a reminder of it’s one of the features to wow future patrons at its upcoming events.

The Grand Opening of the AT&T Performing Arts Center was this past week, full of free (and not-so-free) performances, facility tours and lectures. Obviously, the highlight for me was the Architecture Forum Lectures made by the designers. I could probably be compared to a 13-year old girl going to see Justin Timberlake, I was so excited. These guys are big. Superstars in the design world. And here they were, in Dallas of all places, giving lectures to the public on design and urbanism. Thursday 15 October featured world renown architect, Rem Koolhaas of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, OMA. He spoke in the newly constructed Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre, or as the cheif designer, Joshua Prince-Ramus calls it, the theater machine (more on him later).

The Wyly Theatre is extremely innovative as far as theater design goes. You can read more here, but basically, what is commonly referred to as the back-of-house, front-of-house areas were made instead the top-of-house, bottom-of-house spaces – making for a very unique, vertically organized creation. To enter the lobby or pre-function area, you walk down a ramp to the sub-grade entrance. There you are greeted already by the green accent color that is executed creatively throughout. Then, you enter the ground-level auditorium either by elevator or stairs. It is a very versatile space, able to transform in as little as four hours to various stage/spectator configurations and was just what the client needed.

Here’s my creeper shot of Joshua Prince-Ramus outside.

Rem Koolhaas.

The graphics and wayfinding were outstanding. Here you can see a portion of the level marker and the restrooms graphic beyond. In typical Koolhaas/OMA style, the hallway between the lobby and the restrooms was completely green – floor, walls and ceiling. Awesome.

The lecture was pretty fantastic and we were able to snoop around and tour the venue afterward. Then, Geoff, who came up for the events, pointed out what looked to be Bjarke Ingles, of BIG in Copenhagen standing in the crowd after the lecture was completed. We both looked carefully, and decided that this would be too good to be true, and he surely wouldn’t come all that way just for this, right? Anyway, we wandered upstairs to the roof-top balcony (not pictured) and other areas. One time we thought we saw Ingles again in passing. Was this really him? It sure looked like him. Finally we found the real jem, the green balcony on the 8th floor. There is a gathering area inside, stark white and elegant, with the balcony beyond. It features great views of downtown, green astroturf flooring and green plastic mesh wall and ceiling covering. A really fun space. And that’s where they were. Both Rem Koolhaas and Bjarke Ingles in conversation. We were able to introduce ourselves to Bjarke, explaining how we were able to visit his office, etc. A bit of an awkward conversation but I left the theater on cloud 9.

Bjarke Ingles on the left, Rem Koolhaas at center-right.

justin terveen, photographer

I don’t believe I have yet expressed my sheer excitement with the fact that the grand opening for the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts is but two weeks away. This marks a great accomplishment of the arts and Dallas both. Through the donations of many wealthy elites and others this master plan is nearly complete.

Most notably are the two new major additions: The Winspear Opera House designed by Foster+Partners (Spencer de Gray) and the Wyly Theater designed by REX/OMA (Joshua Prince-Ramus/Rem Koolhaas). Both feature radical theater design strategies. Just Google either venue and you will find a plethora of information and images.

norman foster

rem koolhaas

joshua prince-ramus

justin terveen, photographer

Even more thrilling, each of the three major designers is coming to Dallas during that grand opening week to give free lectures to the public on their work. Pinch me, please. I have secured my tickets and am anxiously awaiting the forum.

Here is a full showing of what the Dallas Arts District will be by 2011. And there is more to come. It is truly a great time to be here. This is the first opportunity I have ever had to witness the opening of such great architectural works and will soon have the opportunity to experience them myself.

01. Margaret & Bill Winspear Opera House, Foster+Partners / 02. Annette Strauss Square, Foster+Partners / 03. Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park, Michel Desvigne / 04. Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre REX/OMA / 05. City Performance Hall, SOM / 06. Morton H. Myerson Symphony Center, I.M.Pei / 07. Cathederal Guadelupe / 08. Belo Mansion / 09. Crow Collection of Asian Art / 10. Dallas Museum of Art / 11. Nasher Sculpture Center / 12. Museum Tower (future), Johnson Fain / 13. Woodall Rogers Park / 14. Booker T. Washington School for the Performing Arts / 15. St. Paul United Methodist Church / 16. Fellowship Church / 17. One Arts Plaza / 18. Dallas Black Dance Theater

I do love rainy days. The sky didn’t actually rain today, but it wanted to. These are a few shots I took on the way home from work today. They are in no particular order. Please excuse the image quality on some of these. They were all motion shots.

Today after work I had a bit of free time and walked over to Philip Johnson’s JFK Memorial. The office where I work is adjacent to the building where the shooter was set up, now home to the Sixth Floor Museum, in Dallas’ West End. The memorial is an impressive, 30 foot high, 50×50 roofless box, surrounded by nearly-floating concrete columns. Two narrow entrances take you to a quiet and solemn central room for reflection and isolation.

It is quite moving, and a little eerie. Like the Fort Worth Water Gardens, also by Johnson, it does well to take you away from the busy downtown street life and bring you into a new environment, where time slows to still.