The performing arts center is a new building, independent of and adjacent to the existing school entrance façade. It is prominent on the sloping site, presenting this significant new community asset to the nearby intersection of two primary avenues. To further emphasize its presence, the new building is an object, a lozenge, rather than continuing the rigid orthogonal massing of the former building. The two buildings are juxtaposed to shape a new entrance plaza – defined materially and compositionally by a new folded, corrugated metal wall that links them at the second level.

As the programmatic core element, the theater is the volumetric center of the new building, with surrounding support spaces. It is formed by a load bearing masonry shell, a solution that addresses primary structural and sound isolation criteria - having face brick to match the original school that appear on the surfaces at the lobby, the gallery, public spaces, and outside as the tall mass of the performance space is exposed above.

The theater has an inner shell that adjusts to diverse acoustical needs. The wide range of theatrical and musical uses demand a space that can shape the sounds and scale of individual voices, jazz groups, orchestras, wind and string instruments, as well as choral ensembles. The concept is a simple system of modular steel panels having variation in the amount of folded surface and porosity through perforation – required for the tuned reflection, diffusion, and absorption of the sounds in the space. The pattern and coursing of the panels creates a rich surface with a compositional character of movement for the space.