A new cultural gateway at the south end of Auburn University’s campus, The Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center extends student experience beyond traditional campus boundaries to engage in educational dialog with the neighboring community and global stage. Sited across from an existing travertine-clad University art museum, long considered disjointed from the traditional red-brick campus - the two-venue, 85,000-square-foot facility compliments counterparts the museum’s identity while introducing architectural cues from central campus, anchoring the future development of an Arts District identifiable to Auburn University.
Eager to blur the lines between campus and community, the building promotes transparency in experiential design through its lightly veiled-in-glass lobby, reminiscent of a drawn stage curtain, and welcoming compositional presence heightened by wood-toned canopies connecting interior to exterior. Pushed to the perimeter envelope, public gathering spaces and grand staircases put the building’s life and activity on display while the warmth of the interior regional Southern Heart Pine feature walls glow within the façade. Within, a diverse group of theater patrons are exposed to world class touring performances in theatre, music, and dance within the 1200-seat multi-purpose hall, while the 350-seat flexible Second Venue brings the stage to the natural environment, bordering a 5,000-seat performance lawn composed of undisturbed landscape and contoured landscaping for improved sightlines to the open-air technical venue.