Just like Buddy Holly: DSAI design a Texas music centre that’s good at everything

When Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc (DSAI) first interviewed for the new Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences in Lubbock, Texas, the board told principal and future project architect Matthew Lella that they wanted to make the often neglected back stage entrance 'welcoming to performers'.
'I knew then,' says Lella, 'that we were dealing with people who understood the arts and community in a deep way.'
DSAI’s architectural response to this directive was a design that expresses both cutting edge culture and Texan hospitality, incorporating disparate artistic practices, stakeholders and spaces into a singular centre.
The birthplace of Buddy Holly (the centre bears his name at the request of an anonymous donor who didn’t want a corporate moniker) has always been a musical hub (Dixie Chick Natalie Maines hails from Lubbock and Waylon Jennings was born nearby). But it also boasts a symphony, a ballet and a pro-active, arts education oriented school board. Outside of the touring lifestyle of troupes and rock bands alike, the idea was to create a 'permanent home' for Lubbock’s arts community.
'Our goal,' says Lella, 'was nothing less than to design a multi purpose hall that was strong at everything.' He continues, 'The challenge for us was explicit. The symphony might not be there every day, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want a top tiered concert hall with superb acoustics.'
The hall’s main volume is a large prismatic shape, encompassing the main theatre – a flexible space with a moveable floor that can host everything from opera to country and western dances. Low lying structures wrap around it, creating a campus feeling from an aggregate of disparate shapes.
Dynamic spatial choreography animates the centre. Its main entrance, the south-facing exterior of which is protected by a series of vertical concrete fins staggered to allow indoor-outdoor connection via floor to ceiling glazing, ushers patrons into the lobby and up its spectacular spiral staircase. The latter’s curvilinear shape is echoed in the balconies of the central theatre.
Performance and rehearsal spaces spill out into public plazas, with a patio restaurant set just outside of the ballet theatre. To punctuate a new civic landmark in the Texan flatlands (besides musicians, Lubbock’s other great export is cotton), a light sculpture whimsically wrapped around a mobile phone tower will act as a regional beacon.
When Buddy Holly’s widow saw a rendering, says Lella, she loved it, proclaiming, 'that’s Buddy's energy rising up into the sky'.
The architects wanted to created a space that expresses both cutting edge culture and Texan hospitality
Open spaces and glazing makes the venue feel welcoming and open, seamlessly connecting inside and out
It will also be an efficient mutlifunctional venue, with the ability to host a wide variety of different performances and events
Performance and rehearsal spaces are designed to spill out into public plazas, with a patio restaurant set just outside of the ballet theatre
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Rétromobile revisits some of the icons of car design, along with their modern descendants
We tour the halls of Rétromobile Paris 2025 and take in remastered automotive classics, futuristic record-breakers and mighty monographs
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Designer Danny Kaplan’s Manhattan showroom is also his apartment: the live-work space reimagined
Danny Kaplan’s Manhattan apartment is an extension of his new showroom, itself laid out like a home; he invites us in, including a first look at his private quarters
By Diana Budds Published
-
Ulla Johnson’s collaboration with artist Julie Hamisky on the A/W 2025 runway is blooming lovely
Ulla Johnson and French artist Julie Hamisky have created 12 new jewellery pieces for the designer's A/W 2025 runway
By Hannah Silver Published
-
A wavy roof tops this Accessory Dwelling Unit's cabin-like form: all miniature charm
This Californian Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) by Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW), offers an aesthetic and functional answer to housing shortages and multigenerational family living
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Palm Springs Modernism Week 2025: let the desert architecture party begin
Palm Springs Modernism Week 2025 launches on 13 February, marking the popular annual desert event’s 20th anniversary, celebrated this year through more midcentury marvels than ever
By Carole Dixon Published
-
On the shores of Discovery Bay, this wooden house is the ultimate waterside retreat
Dekleva Gregorič’s Discovery Bay House is a structured yet organic shelter that blends perfectly into the surrounding Pacific Northwest landscape
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The 10 emerging American Midwest architects you need to know
We profile 10 emerging American Midwest architects shaking up the world of architecture - in their territory, and beyond
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A light-filled New York loft renovation magics up extra space in a deceptively sized home
This New York loft renovation by local practice BOND is now a warm and welcoming apartment that feels more spacious than it actually is
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Inside Bell Labs, the modernist vision behind Severance's minimalist setting
We explore the history of Bell Labs - now known as Bell Works - the modernist Eero Saarinen-designed facility in New Jersey, which inspired the dystopian minimalist setting of 'Severance'
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Zaha Hadid Architects’ new project will be Miami’s priciest condo
Construction has commenced at The Delmore, an oceanfront condominium from the firm founded by the late Zaha Hadid, ZHA
By Anna Solomon Published
-
A West Austin house invites you to commune with nature
Westview Residence by Alterstudio, a West Austin house among trees, makes the most of large windows and open-air decks in a verdant setting
By Ellie Stathaki Published