Great Frontier Performance Facility, Palo Duro Canyon, Amarillo, Texas

Abstract

**Please note that the full text is embargoed** ABSTRACT: The Great Frontier Performance Facility celebrates Texas under the six flags of France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States, with theatre and dance productions. The director chose private property at the top of Palo Duro Canyon in Amarillo as the location for four small theatres and a large partially covered theatre to be intertwined with cafes, gift shops, and a hotel. There are three flat areas that are defined by curved contours which became the site for the facility. The lines of these interconnected areas became the inspiration for the horizontal concept of the lyrically rhythmical lines of the project. The single horizontal lines were broadened to enclose programmed spaces, the vertical walls of these areas were extended up to become two vertical planes, and they were placed upon a model of closely spaced parallel vertical cross-sections through the site. Lines developed into planes and planes developed into forms. These continuously flowing curved undulating shapes unfold horizontally and vertically, and rise and fall to join the flowing pulsations of the natural landscape. Martin Price and Robert Elliot Bell, Architects; Neil Hess, Director.