These two buildings form the AT&T Center for the Performing Arts, which in the future will also include another theater and an outdoor amphitheater. In turn, this complex is part of the "Culture Quarter", which has been created since the late 1970s, where the Dallas Art Museum of E. L. Burns (1984), J. M. Pei (1989), Nasher Renzo Piano and Peter Walker Sculpture Center (2003) and Allied Works Architecture School of Art (2008). All these buildings are almost not formally connected, although the city authorities from the very beginning had high hopes for this project, wanting to successfully compete with the larger and more developed cities in the United States in the field of culture. In particular, the AT&T Center is intended to become the “new Lincoln Center” in terms of its significance for the world musical and theatrical life.
The Wylie Drama Theater is a constructive experiment: its foyer and technical rooms are not located in front of and behind the auditorium, as is usually the case, but below and above it, respectively. The viewer must go down to the lobby, which is below ground level, and then ascend again - to the hall for 575 seats, located on the first floor. A special feature of the hall is its openness to the outer space: it is glazed on three sides of four (Prince-Ramus even insisted on installing huge sliding doors instead of the usual walls), and the surrounding squares and the city itself can become part of the performance; however, if necessary, these transparent surfaces can be covered with black curtains. The appearance of the hall itself also remains at the discretion of the director: the position of the spectator rows can be changed, as well as the profile of the floor - from an arena or a traditional box stage to a ballroom. All machinery and utility rooms are located above the hall; in total, the building has 8 floors. The facades of the building are more restrained than its technical content: they are covered with thin aluminum tubes.
Norman Foster's Winspeare Opera House is more original on the outside and traditional on the inside. Its glass block with the bright red cylinder of the main auditorium in the center is surrounded by a canopy on slender pillars; the narrow steel panels that make it up are angled to block out the rays of the sun, but allow you to see the sky. This public space serves as a natural continuation of the foyer, part of which with a cafe and restaurant can be completely open to the outside: in favorable weather, its wall can be pushed back. The 2,200-seat auditorium follows the traditional horseshoe shape. The theater also has a small auditorium for modest performances and rehearsals.
The landscape design of the space surrounding the theaters, which Michel Devigne is engaged in, is not yet finished. Also, by 2011, a separate park should appear next to them, designed by landscape architect James Burnett.
