Wilson Butler Lodge (now WBA) was part of a team hired by the city of Rochester to develop a master plan and a preliminary design for a new performing arts center (PAC). The Midtown PAC is planned as the central component in a larger urban revitalization strategy.

As the home of three performance venues, a 2,800-seat theater for Broadway productions, a 900-seat hall and a 200-seat studio theater, the plan will not only anchor a revitalized Midtown Mall, but it will also reinforce Liberty Pole Plaza as the city's main civic nexus.

The PAC's front facade is designed to animate Main Street with a new drop-off entry court, a glazed three-level public lobby and a new two-story arcade entry to the mall. This contextual facade will use a carefully chosen palette of materials to relate to its immediate surroundings. The interior facade will form an active backdrop for the proposed glazed winter garden at the heart of a renovated Midtown Mall. This facade will include glass-enclosed rehearsal spaces, an entrance to the studio theater on the first level and a "stage door" entrance to the administrative offices on the second level.

arts / entertainment

master planning