Design Expertise Performing Arts
HLB
Elevating Performance Art Through Light
Performing Arts Design
Performing arts venues are designed to inspire, engage, and transport audiences, balancing technical precision with artistic expression. Architectural lighting design plays a vital role in supporting this vision by enhancing both performer and patron experiences. Thoughtfully integrated lighting should highlight architectural features, support transitions from lobby to stage, and complement theatrical effects without distraction. Through flexible controls and layered illumination, lighting becomes a silent performer, enriching the storytelling experience.
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
Keys to performing
arts lighting
Heighten the Architecture and Visitor Experience
Lighting must support the architectural vision while building anticipation and enhancing the emotional journey.
Flexibility and Functionality
Performing arts venues host a wide variety of events, requiring lighting systems with pinpoint precision that can adapt to the varied needs of galas, lectures, theatrical performances, and everything in between.
Synchronization with Technical Systems
Architectural lighting must act in-sync with theatrical and AV systems, requiring early and ongoing collaboration with stakeholders.
Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman university
Saban Media Center
Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center
Xiqu Centre
Design Team
320,000 sq.ft. | 29,729 sq.m.
$347 M
Awards
Illuminating Engineering Society Award of Merit
LIT Lighting Design Award for Community Building Lighting
Completion Date
January 2019
Xiqu Centre
Hong Kong, China
With forms inspired by iconography from the ancient art of Chinese Opera, “Xiqu,” the Xiqu Centre is the jewel of the West Kowloon district of Hong Kong. The multi-layered architecture follows the flow of “Qi” energy and encourages a journey of exploration and discovery. Lighting reinforces the sense of wonder as each space reveals a new experience, much like the story line of a great opera.
Layers of light reinforce the fluidity of movement and discovery, creating an atmosphere of effortless elegance.
The open-air plaza, designed as a welcoming 24-hour cultural park, features integrated grow lights that supplement natural daylight for the symbolic tree cluster while luminous coves create a soft, sculptural presence. As one of the first projects to achieve the Hong Kong Green Building Council’s BEAM Plus Gold rating, Xiqu Centre’s lighting minimizes skyglow with a down-washed approach, ensuring it radiates a subtle elegance along the waterfront.
Glowing from within and softly washed with downward facing façade lighting, a future-focused sustainable opera house celebrates an ancient art form – Xiqu.
157,000 sq.ft. | 14,586 sq.m. $220 M Awards
Illuminating Engineering Society Lumen West Award of Merit
Completion Date September 2014
Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
San Antonio, Texas, United States
This uniquely compelling performing arts center is inspired by the cultural history of San Antonio. The project was designed to express the exuberance of “fiesta” while celebrating the quiet sophistication of the existing historic structure, resulting in a richly textured marriage of old and new. The transformative impact of lighting is evident throughout, creating moments of discovery and a vibrant connection between the venue and the River Walk.
The existing facades are softly illuminated with LED uplights to give the front entry a sophisticated and historic incandescence.
Once inside, the journey through time escalates with modern-day textures and colors. The shell of the performance hall is highlighted via dimmable wall grazers and downlights, while bold red walls are enhanced with a wash of red LEDs. In the theater, swirling arabesque patterns along the balcony fronts are backlit with soft color changing illumination, creating a vibrant, festive atmosphere that can be tuned to any event. As you exit the building, light wands create a visual path to the Riverwalk Plaza behind the building, creating a connection between the Tobin Center and the scenic River Walk district.
The exterior color-changing veil façade can provide subtle color shifts to highlight the architecture or show dynamic shapes, text or even video, specific to events.
Design Team
Pfeiffer Partners Architects
Theatre Projects Consultants
Background
86,000 sq.ft. | 7,990 sq.m.
$47 M
Awards
Illuminating Engineering Society Award of Merit
Illuminating Engineering Society Lumen West Award of Merit
Completion Date
March 2016
Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University
Orange, California, United States
Inspired by the organic forms of nature, the Musco Center for the Arts offers patrons an immersive theater experience where light plays a pivotal role in shaping atmosphere and emotion. Drawing from the delicate texture of a budding flower and the reflective depth of a raindrop, the auditorium embraces audiences in a warm, golden glow reminiscent of early morning sunlight.
Depth and shape of the overlapping petals was emphasized utilizing tunable white LED fixtures washing upward surrounding the guest with soft, warm light.
Soft washes of light accentuate layered architectural forms, enhancing the sense of volume and setting this venue apart from traditional theater environments.
A custom glass LED chandelier, spanning the full height of the grand stair, welcomes guests with an ethereal glow, its cable and ring supports subtly dissolving into the background. Inside the theater, custom glass sconces adorn the balcony fascia, evoking dew drops shimmering in dawn’s first light. Tunable white LED technology orchestrates a seamless dimming sequence, mimicking the warmth of a setting sun and gently drawing attention to the stage.
Design Team
3.5 acres. | 1.41 hectares $85 M
Completion Date August 2021
Tucker Sadler Architects
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
San Diego, California, United States
The Rady Shell is one of the premiere outdoor event venues in Southern California. Its iconic concert shell was designed to complement existing elements of the waterfront skyline, while its back patio area offers exquisite views of the bay. The lighting design strikes a careful balance in providing sufficient brightness to address a need for iconic expression and safety considerations for a venue with heavy traffic while still limiting the overall environmental impact.
Dynamic colorchanging lighting serves the dual purpose of creating a “wow” factor for visitors while providing the ability to adjust color temperatures to avoid disrupting the flight patterns of migrating birds.
HLB performed environmental impact studies and worked with the California Coastal Commission as part of an “exemplary” effort to minimize light trespass and preserve the integrity of the natural surroundings.
The Rady Shell’s fabric material allows for unique expressions of light that can be tailored to specific events.
Design Team
Gensler
Background
30,000 sq.ft. | 2,787 sq.m.
$30 M
LEED Silver Certified
Awards
Illuminating Engineering Society Lumen West Award of Merit
Completion Date June 2017
Saban Media Center
Los Angeles, California, United States
Moments of lighting grandeur dazzle at every turn in this landmark entertainment center, evoking a sense of elegance, drama, and Hollywood panache. From the exterior plaza to the theater itself, the lighting design plays a pivotal role in shaping a warm, welcoming atmosphere while offering the flexibility to accommodate a wide range of events. Strategic investments were made in key feature areas, ensuring that lighting not only enhances the architectural vision but also leaves a lasting impression on visitors.
Inside the pre-function lobby, RGBW colorchanging backlit panels illuminate a lasercut ceiling, forming a dynamic constellation pattern that can shift for different occasions.
The theater’s varied ceiling heights and suspended elements required technical precision, requiring the team to utilize multiple beam spreads that ensured even illumination. DMX controls and lowlevel dimming provide seamless adjustments, while LED fixtures accentuate the wood fin walls, reinforcing the theater’s grandeur.
190,000
Completion Date October 2016
Voxman Music Building at the University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa, United States
Lighting plays a pivotal role in guiding students and visitors through this state-of-the-art School of Music with over 60 practice rooms, 58 faculty studios, and 130 pianos. As a wayfinding measure, color-changing ellipsodials point patrons towards the signature performance spaces, the most prominent being a 700-seat theater highlighted by a one-of-a-king undulating acoustical ceiling.
HLB provided theatrical flood lighting to accentuate architectural forms in the performance spaces, working closely with the theatrical designer to incorporate lighting from accessible catwalks.
A custom chandelier on the lower level of the building emphasizes communal gathering.
Design Team
108,000 sq.ft. | 10,034 sq.m. $81 M
Completion Date February 2012
Bora Architects
University of Texas Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center
Midland County, Texas, United States
This world-class performance center hosts a wide range of events, from University-level performances and musical education, to community experiences, to Broadway theater, symphonies, ballet, and opera offerings. The design was inspired by local geology and the expansive West Texas sky, with lighting that transforms the building into a beacon of warmth visible from miles around.
Lighting of the auditorium ceiling creates a sparkling “starfield” reminiscent of a Texas night sky.
Within the flexible recital hall, wall washers and slots detailed into the wood ceiling provide clean and simple general illumination.
HLB Lighting Design
Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University