John Katsilometes on the air miles logged by the Smith Center’s designers in search of inspiration

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Board members of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts have been doing quite a lot of flying under the radar lately - to Europe and back, to Mexico and back. The destinations have been music halls and opera houses in such locales as Vienna, Milan, Paris, Budapest and Mexico City. The group's charge has been to pick over some of the world's finest performing arts centers for design ideas to apply to the project in Las Vegas.

The voyaging troupe included Smith Center design architect David M. Schwarz and theater designer Joshua Dachs, along with board members Myron Martin, Don Snyder, Richard Plaster and Wyatt DeFreitas. In early January the crew visited 15 venues in five days, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Paris Opera House and Teatro La Fenice in Venice. And last Tuesday and Wednesday they toured European-styled venues in Mexico City, Guanajuato and Queretaro.

"It's been a whirlwind, but we were able to see the world's greatest halls in Europe, halls that have been around for 100 to 150 years," Martin said in a recent interview. "People don't realize that in the late-1800s Mexico was building European-tradition opera houses, so that the world would take the country more seriously. The group focused on the details of each venue, measuring the width of staircases, noting the dimensions of lobbies and examining such signature effects as clock or bell towers .

Martin also said the $400 million project might be opened in two or even three phases, with the main 2,000-seat hall opening first (likely in mid-2011, if not earlier) and the two smaller theaters (seating 600 and 300) to follow.

NoteMart

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