The Story of Design
The design concept of the Dr. Phillips Center, Orlando’s $613 million performing arts center, was revealed in 2008. The project brought together a dream team of talent, including design architect Barton Myers, theater designer Richard Pilbrow, and acoustician Damian Doria.
Then the recession hit, and private giving all but dried up. So the board made the difficult decision to break the project into two phases, initially completing the 2,700-seat Walt Disney Theater for Broadway musicals and multi-genre concerts and the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater, a 300-seat black box theater for community events. The board pushed the most ambitious part of the project, Steinmetz Hall, to phase two. Steinmetz Hall is a multiform theater that can transform to accommodate multiple types of events and performances and achieved an N1 sound rating – the highest possible acoustic rating. It’s the only theater of its kind in the world.
Construction for Steinmetz Hall began in 2017 with a slated completion in winter 2020, ultimately realizing the final vision for the project. This video was created as a trailer for a planned documentary about the journey to complete the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
Credits:
Strategy & Creative Direction: Elias Martinez
Art Direction: John David Harris, Anthony Morello
Producer: Brittnei Krafzig
Production Company: Strong Films
Celebrating five years of Arts for Every Life®.
It’s a historic time at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts as it celebrates its fifth season and the close of Phase II construction with the opening Steinmetz Hall and the Green Room. The 2018-2019 annual report was developed to acknowledge these two important milestones. Partnering with Maven Creative on art direction and design, the in-house brand team was responsible for the creative direction, content, and strategy. The report was tied together conceptually through several dynamic illustrations of the number five. A diecut cover served as the report’s centerpiece, leveraging one of the arts center’s most iconic assets – the ceiling art in the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater – in a completely new way.
We extended the story by bringing the report’s design elements into front-of-house touchpoints to raise guest awareness of the arts center’s impact across central Florida.
