The Overture Center for the Arts transformed a city block of downtown Madison, renovating a historic Rapp & Rapp theater into a 1,200-seat multi-purpose theater, adding a new 2,250-seat theater for symphony, opera, and musical theater, creating a new 330-seat thrust-stage drama theater in the shell of an older theater, and adding a spectacular new lobby with three multi-function rehearsal / reception rooms.
The trapezoidal site included a flatiron corner, which was given over to the project’s other major component - the new home for the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. The MMoCA facility includes three art galleries, a retail space, and a 230-seat auditorium for lectures, recitals, and film. The top floor of the museum includes a restaurant and a rooftop sculpture garden. A floating glass stair in a glassy wedge-shaped enclosure ties the three levels of the museum together and gives MMoCA a dramatic presence on State Street.
