Boora Architects

Bass Concert Hall is the centerpiece of the University of Texas, Austin’s 18-acre, nine-theater performing arts complex. Following an 18-month renovation of its audience chamber and patron amenities, as well as the expansion of its 5-story lobby with a new steel and glass façade, Bass Concert Hall now stands as a glowing beacon for the arts on campus.

Built in 1981, Bass Concert Hall’s Brutalist design featured a heavy brick exterior and a dark interior, reminding campus visitors and community members of a bunker, not a performing arts center. Despite its aesthetic deficiencies, the building remained an active part of campus life due to its prominent location adjacent to Royal Memorial Stadium.

In 1999, the building failed to meet new campus-wide fire and life safety standards. So the campus commissioned Boora Architects with associate architect CCS & H to study how the facility could most efficiently meet the Fire Marshal's requirements. The study determined that safe use of the venue would require enclosing the main fire stairs, creating safe exiting, adding a sprinkler system and inserting a new smoke evacuation system in the five-floor lobby. Accessibility to public spaces and restrooms would also have to be improved to meet Texas Accessibility Standards.

Facing a yearlong closure of the facility to make these upgrades, the University decided to simultaneously improve the experience of performers and patrons in the facility.

With one of the largest stages in the country and seating for 3,000 patrons, Bass Hall had the potential to serve as one of the most significant venues in Austin, capable of hosting the largest touring productions. To achieve this goal, the campus directed the Boora team to design full lobby and audience chamber improvements, as well as a new front facade to give the building an architectural identity that communicates its function as a significant cultural venue.

Inside the audience chamber, upgrades included new finishes, increased lighting, an opened ceiling with adjustable acoustic curtains and new surfaces on the side walls. The stage itself was updated with new cheek walls and a forestage canopy to improve sound projection, and a new forestage grid to improve lighting flexibility. Bass Concert Hall now accommodates an expanded range of touring performances in a better acoustical environment for amplified sound.

To create greater transparency to the ‘front of house’, the brick façade of the building was removed. A light, glassy addition expands the existing 20,000-square-foot, five-level lobby by 10,000 square feet, thereby improving the facility's ability to accommodate large campus gatherings and receptions. Finishes throughout lobby have also been updated and the number of women’s restrooms has been greatly increased. An outdoor balcony at the lobby’s top floor provides views of the UT Tower, the stadium and the LBJ Library and Museum.

The simultaneous renovation and expansion of Bass Concert Hall consolidated and reduced costs, minimized disruptions to the campus community and reversed the sense of opacity that had dominated an important and prominent facility on campus.