If you've ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the TheatreSquared building on the corner of West Avenue and Spring Street in Fayetteville, you are now in very prestigious company. The professional theater organization announced Thursday it has received the 2020 American Architecture Award, honoring the best new buildings designed and constructed by American architects in the U.S. and abroad.
"We are thrilled to see Northwest Arkansas's theater recognized with this international distinction," Executive Director Martin Miller said in a news release. "It is a credit to every community member who took part in this grassroots-driven process and to the amazing design and construction professionals who made this vision a reality."
Designed by Marvel Architects with lead consultant and theater designer Charcoalblue -- under the auspices of the Walton Family Foundation's Design Excellence Program -- the $31 million, 50,000-square-foot facility brings together two intimate theaters; education and community space; rehearsal and meeting areas; on-site workshops and storage for scenery, props and costumes; eight self-sufficient guest artist apartments; outdoor gathering spaces at three levels; and the open-all-day Commons Bar/Cafe. It opened to the public in September of 2019 with "Shakespeare in Love" as its first production.
Sponsored by The Chicago Athanaeum: Museum of Architecture And Design, the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press, the American Architecture Awards' recipients will see their projects showcased in an exhibition format at the Athanaeum and published on the museum's website and in a catalogue by Metropolitan Arts Press.