Planning and Design

The Centre for the Arts at Mizner Park will boast a grand 44,000 square foot art museum with sculpture gardens; a new state-of-the-art amphitheater with a colonnade and concert green to accommodate 5,000 people; and an 1,800 seat, acoustically superior concert hall with administrative and educational facilities, and a parking garage. The Centre for the Arts is designed so that it can be completed in three phases as portrayed in this illustration.

Phase I: The Boca Raton Museum of Art

In 1997 the Boca Raton Museum of Art determined that after 50 years of service to the City, it had outgrown its facilities. The Boca Raton Museum currently serves more than 90,000 visitors a year and increased attendance at the Museum's programs and art classes, as well as the growth in its collections, clearly demonstrated the need for a new facility. The Museum determined that it was in its best interest to be part of a Centre for the Arts which would provide synergistic opportunities for permanent and touring exhibits and other programming. On January 24, 2001, the new Museum at Mizner Park was officially opened to the public. For more information visit: www.bocamuseum.org

Phase II: The Count de Hoernle Amphitheater

The Count de Hoernle amphitheater is composed of the following physical elements:

  • An air-conditioned stage composed of approximately 3,600 square feet;
  • Stage wing areas of approximately 2,500 square feet;
  • Performers' dressing rooms with restroom facilities;
  • Permanent sound and lighting for performances.
  • Related stage equipment including a ballet dance floor;
  • Stage loading facilities; and
  • Public restrooms.

The concert green, a plaza by day and the central viewing area of the amphitheater stage during performances, is surrounded by a two-level colonnade. The green provides the address and entrances to the art museum on the west and the concert hall on the east and will provide a place for people to congregate during the day and evening when there are no performances, in the style of the great plazas of Southern Europe.

The Count de Hoernle amphitheater allows a substantial increase in the number of free public performances presented each year and provides the opportunity for community groups to rent the facility to host fund raising events and other fee-based performances.

Click here to take a virtual reality tour of the amphitheater. Recommended for high-speed connections only.

Phase III: The Concert Hall and Administrative/Educational Facility

The concert hall is intended to provide an acoustically superior venue for performances of music, dance, theater, film, and other events. The principal components of the building program include:

  • A small lobby;
  • Seating for approximately 1000 on the first floor;
  • Seating for approximately 800 in a balcony;
  • 200 choral seats; and
  • A stage and related areas.

There is no quality performance venue with sufficient seating capacity available in South Palm Beach County. Concerts performed in Boca Raton now take place in the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Auditorium. While the University has been generous in their scheduling, the use of this facility by non-University groups is likely to be increasingly difficult with the growing needs of the student body. Moreover, the auditorium was never intended for symphonic performances and most everyone concurs that it is inadequate from the audience and musician perspectives alike.

The concert hall would be a community music center, where our musicians teach young people, and local youth orchestras are part of a coordinated community music education program. It would be a magnet for cultural and educational activity in Boca Raton and South Palm Beach County, attracting other groups to the vicinity, helping us create a critical mass of arts and cultural events in and around the concert hall.

The administrative/educational facility will be designed to contain the offices and class/lecture rooms for the educational program for the Centre for the Arts. In addition, it will contain offices which will be available for cultural partners of the Centre and all of the operational facilities related to the concert hall and Count de Hoernle amphitheater.

Planning and Design | The Centre and Education | Board Members

BACK TO TOP