Boca Raton Center for Arts and Innovation

Design principles for the new Boca Raton Center for the Arts and Innovation are focused on versatility of the spaces, community engagement and technology. The new complex will encompass six diverse spaces that range in seating capacity from 99 to 3,500, with a capacity of 6,000 when all spaces are used simultaneously. A central design aspect of the project was integrating the existing Mizner Park amphitheater into the new complex.

The current Mizner Park amphitheater will be transformed into a 3,500-seat, open-air, bowl-style setting, and will be equipped with a cantilevered “curtain” that can be raised and lowered to transform the stage into a smaller black box theater. A new concert and performance hall will be added, as well as a multi-use roof-top terrace, 99-seat jewel box performance hall, and an open-air lobby placed above ground level. Many areas within the facility will be available for community use, including outdoor public gathering spaces.

The project will add a permanent, floating, overhead canopy that will protect audiences from the elements. Enhanced with kinetic, moving elements to guide wind, it will shield audiences from the elements and create a breezy, cooling effect, facilitating usage for many more days each year. The underside of the canopy is also designed as a night-time projection surface. Video projectors, LED screens, and other broadcast equipment will be used throughout the facility, and will be simultaneously viewable in all spaces, as well as from the exterior for outdoor audiences.

“We have envisioned a project that leverages technology and shape-shifting architecture to create the performance spaces of the future. This will allow the performing facilities to expand and contract, and leverage indoor and outdoor venues to create countless numbers of programming and viewing experiences,” said Ari Bose, IBI Group’s Principal-In-Charge and Design Lead for the project.