THE WHITAKER CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND THE ARTS

A multi-use facility for theater, music, science & education

The Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts is the first in the nation to provide both science and arts activities in a single facility. The main elements are a 600-seat proscenium Theater, a 39,000 square-foot Science Center, and a 200 seat IMAX Theater. The $30 million, 130,000-square-foot building was designed to compel interest, arouse curiosity, and invite participation by signifying the varied nature of the center's programming. The building is primarily sandstone, using a sloping roof line that relates to the varied urban scales and allows the structure to be perceived volumetrically.

In order to stimulate pedestrian activity in downtown Harrisburg, the design places equal importance on the public street entries as on the entries from the adjacent shopping arcade and parking garage. A two-level lobby, clad in multicolored slate shingles links these entries with the three primary programmatic elements. Inside, a three-story, light-filled space contains a Grand Lobby with a translucent metal dome that allows daylight to filter in from above. At night, it becomes a lantern that animates the street.

Status: Completed 1999

Location: Harrisburg, PA

Size: 130,000 sf

Client: Capitol Center for the Arts, Science and Education

Completed by Jonathan Schloss at Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates.