Long Center Opens as Austin’s Newest Landmark

Austin Commercial recently completed construction on the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas. The center opened in March and provides a contemporary backdrop for symphonies, concerts and operas while featuring recycled elements from its past as the Palmer Auditorium. At a cost of $77 million, the Long Center provides a state-of-the-art venue for a broad array of regional performing arts groups, Texas musicians, and a permanent home to the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin.

Among the most notable elements of construction was the adaptive reuse of the materials and debris from the original Palmer House structure that was built in the 1950s. More than 65 percent of the materials were reused functionally or as décor for the new facility. And, of the total 44 million pounds of debris including steel, concrete, dirt and glass resulting from the original building’s demolition, more than 97 percent avoided landfills and was recycled or reused at the Long Center or somewhere else. Glass from Palmer Auditorium’s curtain wall was formed into panels that now feature names of the Long Center's donors.

The Long Center includes two performance venues – the 2,400-seat Michael and Susan Dell Foundation Hall, and the Debra and Kevin Rollins Studio Theatre, a flexible performance space which seats from 80 to 240 persons. Supporting the venues are several lounge areas and the City Terrace that has reclaimed the structural ring of the Palmer Auditorium as an open window to the skyline of Austin.