Las Vegas Academy, Lowden Theater for Performing Arts

Las Vegas Academy, the city’s school of the arts, offers magnet programs for students of visual arts and live performance. The District’s goal was to provide focused training for local students who were interested in careers working in the city’s numerous showrooms. Auerbach Pollock Friedlander was given specific direction to focus on programming and planning a working 750-seat theatre sufficiently equipped to provide technical theatre graduates with hands-on experience to qualify them to work locally. As a result, students, aspiring to work as stagehands, can stay in Las Vegas and get the appropriate training without the added cost and years of attending a college or university. The new Lowden Theater is a cornerstone of the master plan that has now made the historic former Las Vegas High School into a relevant arts-driven urban campus beloved by its students. The building was designed to complement two repurposed Art Deco structures, now studios, that are listed on the Register of Historic Places and Structures.

Architect: Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects
Acoustics: Arup Acoustics
Size: 40,000 SF
Cost: $16,400,000
Completion: 2005