Scott Cantrell

Refined models and new details of the City Performance Hall planned for the Dallas Arts District were presented Thursday afternoon to about two dozen representatives of local performing arts groups.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

The hall's design calls for ribbons of roof curling in alternating directions.

To be located at the southeast corner of the district, at Ross and Routh, the complex is being designed for smaller-scale theater, music and dance performances. The master plan includes a 750-seat, multipurpose proscenium theater; two flexible performance spaces seating up to 200 each; and associated lobby, cafe, meeting, storage and rehearsal spaces. The current plan is to build the 750-seat theater first and add the other parts of the complex later.

Lead architect Leigh Breslau, from the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, showed models of the complex and illustrations of floor plans and cross sections. These schematic designs were considerably more detailed than the basic conceptual plans unveiled last January.

"This is the phase when we know where every room is, how big it is, the organization of the complex," Mr. Breslau explained. But he added that colors and details of materials are still to be determined.

Parallel ribbons of roof gently curling in alternating directions will articulate the separate sections of the building: the three performance spaces, the cafe and rehearsal spaces, and a covered but open-air arcade running front to back.

Mr. Breslau said the building will be of concrete, probably somewhat tinted to coordinate with the nearby Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, with pewter-finished metal roofs. Lobbies on Flora Street will be faced with aluminum-framed glass, and several skylighted garden spaces are incorporated into the building design.

The project is being funded by the city of Dallas and is separate from two other, mostly privately funded, facilities under construction nearby: the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts' Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House and Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre.

The City Performance Hall has been designed for phased construction. So far, the city has funded only the 750-seat auditorium, a reduced lobby and some support spaces with $38 million from the $1.35 billion bond package approved by Dallas voters in November 2006. This will represent about a third of the whole complex, which if completed will cover most of the block between Ross and Flora and between Routh and Jack Evans streets.

Already a planned orchestra pit has been cut from the main theater because of budget issues. Revelation of this cut, which would make the hall problematic for dance or smaller operatic performances with live accompaniment, caused considerable concern at the meeting.

Mr. Breslau said the pit and associated access stairs, passageways and lift would add $1.5 million to the budget. He also said he had argued against eliminating the pit.

"We're all pretty unhappy about not having the pit," he said, adding, "We will continue to look at it."

According to Maria Muñoz-Blanco, the city's director of cultural affairs, construction on phase one is expected to begin in late 2008, with completion about two years later. Phase two of the complex, currently budgeted at $40 million, will depend on a bond election planned for 2010.