Sorenson Center For The Arts by Brooks + Scarpa

Designed by Brooks + Scarpa. The Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts is the home of the Tony Award winning Utah Shakespeare Festival, which draws more than 250,000 visitors annually to it’s theatres and festival gardens.

Architect: Brooks + Scarpa
Location: Cedar City, Utah, United States
Year: 2017

Project's description: The $39.1 mil 5.5-acre complex sits on the eastern edge of the Southern Utah University campus linking the university with downtown Cedar City, UT. It is a comprehensive center for visual and performing arts, live theatre, and arts education that offers a variety of activities such as literary and production seminars, classes, workshops, and backstage tours and art exhibitions.

The center includes the new 86,000 square foot Utah Shakespeare Festival (USF) building which, houses the new open-air, 900-seat Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre, replacing the current Adams Theatre. Other significant program spaces are the Rehearsal Halls, Anes Studio Theatre, a flexible 200-seat black box theatre, actor support spaces, administrative offices, and a large costume production area.

The complex also features gardens, parks and exterior spaces for live performance and public use. The park-like setting incorporates native planting and is designed as outdoor rooms to accommodate uses ranging from intimate activities such as relaxing on a bench to gatherings of up to 300 people for impromptu live performances.

Anchoring the southwest corner is also the 28,000 square foot Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA). SUMA is a state-of-the-art museum hosting exhibitions from around the world and home to a special collection of the work by Utah artist, Jim Jones. SUMA also regularly exhibit work of Southern Utah University’s Art and Design students and faculty, and provide a venue for displaying regional artists and juried shows—making it a true cultural destination for theatre and the arts in Utah.

> Toronto Centre for the Arts by Diamond Schmitt Architect
> Musée d’arts de Nantes by Stanton Williams Architects