Saturday, January 14, 2012

Kravis Center

I find playing Miami and West Palm Beach back to back to be a fascinating way to compare theatre design. Both venues are identical in so many ways with one big exception. The Arsht Center and the Kravis Center are both less than 20 years old. The two centers have multiple performance spaces with an opera house designed venue of more than 2000 seats as the main performance space in the performing arts complex. The big difference is the style of the design. Whereas the Arsht in Miami seems modern yet warm and inviting despite the large seating capacity, the Kravis in West Palm Beach seems tacky and devoid of any charm. I realize that this is a matter of taste and opinion, but that is my opinion and I am sticking to it.



The exterior is rather nice. The problem lies once you step inside.




It is as though the designer took a cheap cruise and thought, "I want to replicate the feeling of a cheap cruise ship, but make it larger than life." Thus the Kravis was born.





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