June 17, 2021

We are honored that the 2021 Architizer A+ Awards has recognized Gonzaga University’s Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center with a Special Mention, awarded to work that exhibits remarkable achievement and that scored in the top 5% of entrants. The new Center is comprised of a 750-seat multipurpose theater, a recital/rehearsal hall with telescoping seating for 168, an interdisciplinary design studio, and an interactive exhibit of the recreated sitting rooms of Myrtle Woldson’s house, in tribute to the donor, Spokane native, successful businesswoman and supporter of the arts. The facility provides much needed facilities for the departments of music, theater, and the arts, and welcome mid-size venues for the Spokane community. The design of the Center was inspired by the nearby Spokane River; the force of its flow, divided by boulders, is echoed in the positions of the building’s three bar-shaped forms, which are rotated slighting apart from each other. The interior of the multipurpose theater extends the metaphor, referencing the topography and flora of the river, with climbing vines and tree canopy shapes, striated walls mimicking the cracked rock walls of the riverbanks, and the ripples on the river’s surface appearing in the carpet pattern.