THE ARCHITECTURE

From its dazzling gold dome to its gleaming midcentury modern interior, the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts is an unforgettable architectural and cultural landmark.

The building’s bold design was intended to express an unbounded optimism in Reno’s future. Its crowning feature is its iconic gold-anodized aluminum geodesic dome, comprised of 500 interlocking panels. Geodesic domes were patented and popularized by the architect, designer, inventor, and futurist Richard Buckminster Fuller.

The building is often referred to as “the Golden Turtle,” but its actual name derives from the statue of a pioneer family that stands on the front plaza. Entitled “Humanity,” the statue of a couple and their daughter looking westward to the Sierra Nevada range was created by the sculptor Byron S. Johnson in 1939 and previously stood in front of the State Building, which was demolished in 1966 to make way for the theater.