Culture & Performance Venues | SPF:a Design Strategy

From Program to Performance: Crafting Purposeful Spaces

At SPF:a, we believe that venues for the arts deserve more than just a hall, they need to embody narrative, movement, acoustics and community. Our work on the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills is a clear example. We transformed a dormant post‑office building (originally built in 1934) into a vibrant cultural hub, designing both restoration and a new annex to house a 500‑seat theatre while preserving the historic structure.

Respecting Legacy While Embracing New Program

Instead of forcing a modern theatre into the old post office shell, we at SPF:a located the smaller, ancillary program, rehearsal rooms, classrooms, administrative space, within the historic building. The new theatre portion sits in an adjacent annex, linked through a garden promenade. This decision allowed us to preserve the historic architecture while giving the performance spaces the flexibility and infrastructure they require.

Materiality, Identity & Symbolism

Our material strategies reinforce the story. At the Wallis, the new theatre façade uses abstracted “envelope” shaped copper‑colored concrete panels, an homage to the building’s past as a postal processing center. Some panels are flat, some open or turned, creating texture and meaning in form. This is emblematic of how SPF:a approaches cultural projects: every surface, shape and groove can echo narrative.

Spatial Flow & Civic Engagement

Performance venues must move people, not just by function but by feeling. At the Wallis complex we designed courtyards, sculpture gardens and promenades that guide visitors from urban context into intimate performance spaces. These transition zones become part of the experience. For us at SPF:a, the building isn’t just where performances happen, it’s a civic room that welcomes, lingers and interacts.

Technical Excellence Meets Artistic Purpose

We always converge technical demands , acoustics, sightlines, building systems, code compliance , with aesthetic intention. On this project and others, SPF:a balances the backstage logistics, structural support and mechanical systems with the front‑of‑house poetry of performance space. The result is venues that serve artists, audiences and communities equally.

Conclusion, Spaces That Inspire

When we at SPF:a design cultural and performance venues, our goal is to elevate experience. These are not simply buildings where events happen, they are places where identity is formed, art is celebrated, and urban life is enhanced.
Are you envisioning a performance venue or cultural space that resonates? Let SPF:a guide your next project. Contact us to begin the dialogue.