Community // arts & entertainment

Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts is the cultural focal point for the performing arts in Virginia Beach. The center is recognized as one of the region’s most impressive structures, as well as the one of the nation’s most acoustically-sound venues. H&A, together with Philip Johnson • Alan Ritchie, created the multi-purpose performing arts center.

The architecturally dynamic center features a three-story, 110-foot-wide, luminous glass façade that wraps the front of the 86,500 SF building and reveals a grand lobby within. Designed to maximize sightlines, the 1,236-seat theater accommodates a variety of performances while creating an intimate atmosphere. Sinuous forms along the theater’s walls harmoniously represent the ebb and flow of the ocean’s waves – creating an imagery characteristic of the city’s oceanfront location.