IRVING CONVENTION CENTER AT LAS COLINAS BLENDS FUNCTIONALITY WITH DESIGN TO CREATE ICONIC STRUCTURE
Contact: Diana Pfaff
972-252-7476 or 1-800-247-8464
dpfaff@irvingtexas.com
IRVING, TEXAS --The Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas is positioned to make a big impression with meeting planners and visitors, not to mention the Las Colinas landscape.
Slated to open in late 2010, the $133 million, 275,000 square-foot Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas will include a 50,000 square-foot column-free exhibit hall, a 20,000 square-foot ballroom and 20,000 square feet in breakout meeting rooms and an 800-space parking garage.
Taking a cue from Las Colinas' famous bronze mustangs and the copper roofs that top the towers at Williams Square, the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas will add a visual focal point for the Urban Center and become an iconic image in the skyline with its stunning copper exterior.
RMJM Hillier, a global, design-driven architectural practice, created a design where both form and functionality mesh gracefully with art. The perforated copper exterior will add visual interest, giving the building a changing look as the sun reflects on the green patina during the day, and the facility's lights shine through the material at night.
The urban, sculptural-designed center has slightly upturned corners, giving the building a visual lift. When approaching the building, the structure seems to rise, creating a powerful, yet welcoming presence.
Like the famous piazzas of Europe, the center aims to be a gathering place for the community to celebrate important events, to linger and to connect, said Barbara A. Hillier, AIA, formerly principal of RMJM, and formerly principal of Hillier Architecture, the project's principal design architect.
"As a civic building, we've done things that make it less an imposing fortress. We've created a building that reaches out and grabs people and pulls them up into the building," Hillier said. "We wanted a building that felt alive, where you could see the excitement and energy animating the building."
Outside, a grand staircase moves gracefully up 50 feet to the second floor, where an indoor-outdoor cafe wraps around the building, offering visitors a panoramic view of Irving and Las Colinas.
The building's distinctive design translates into the ultimate flexibility.
"This building breaks from the typical convention center," Hillier said. "It's much more than a place to call people together. It is also a very exclusive and private meeting space, and a place where people will come for sporting events, for social events and family celebrations."
The vertical design also means it will be more efficient for users, said Eric Jaffe, RMJM Hillier's managing principal for the project.
"If you have 10 minutes between functions, you'll be able to easily step outside to take a break or make calls," Jaffe said.
Walking into the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, visitors will be greeted by a large lobby with a four-story, open atrium. Visitors can move between levels using a bank of elevators or the two escalators that rise from the lobby, bringing them first to the second-floor cafe, then to the third floor meeting rooms or fourth floor ballroom.
The lobby will have two main entrances, allowing its pre-function space to be configured in a way that accommodates separate user groups, allowing each to maintain its desired ambience.
"This building has many different hats to wear," Jaffe said. "You could have a corporate meeting on the third floor and a basketball tournament in the exhibit hall without the events interrupting each other."
The exhibit hall will include 35-foot ceilings, allowing it to shift seamlessly between sporting events and the typical convention center trade show.
The second floor cafe will offer event attendees a place to relax, get some fresh air, or network with peers.
The center's third level houses 20,000 square feet of breakout meeting space in 20 rooms, each approximately 1,000 square feet. The rooms will be clustered into pods, allowing each to have an intimate, adjacent pre-function space, while also easily allowing multiple groups to utilize the floor simultaneously.
The 20,000 square-foot ballroom on the top floor will offer guests a spectacular view of Las Colinas and even a glimpse of downtown Dallas.
"The distinctive design of the building and flexible space for a variety of users gives us something that will stand out in the market," said Maura Gast, executive director for the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau.
RMJM Hillier's design has already attracted attention from the architecture world. The project earned a 2008 Design Merit award by the New Jersey Society of Architects. The panel's comments described the project as "stunning" and as having a "true sense of questioning typology."
About RMJM Hillier
RMJM Hillier is the North American division of RMJM Group, one of the largest architectural practices in the world with 1,200 people and 15 offices across the United States, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
About Irving, Texas
Located immediately adjacent to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and in between Dallas and Fort Worth, Irving, Texas, (www.irvingtexas.com) boasts more than 75 hotels and more than 11,000 rooms. Las Colinas is a 12,000-acre master-planned community within the city of Irving, and is known worldwide for its quality and uniqueness. The area has a total taxable base of more than $7 billion and is home to 8,000+ companies, 30 Fortune 500 companies, plus the world headquarters of four. In the next three years, the area will see more than $4 billion in hotel, retail, entertainment, office, residential and meeting facility development.
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