Hillside Auditorium Design Garners Award for Little Rock Architecture Firm

Allison Architects awarded Gulf States Region Merit Award for University of Arkansas in Fayetteville Project

June 5, 2015 (Little Rock, AR) – During the recent 2015 National Conference of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) held in Atlanta, Georgia, Little Rock-based Allison Architects won a 2015 AIA Gulf States Region Merit Award for Hillside Auditorium on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. The awards program identifies built works of distinction by architects from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Hillside Auditorium is sited adjacent to the historic Chi Omega Greek Theater, and has two auditoria – one seating 487 persons, and a second seating 290 persons. Designed to recede into the hillside, vegetated roofs allow the continuation of the natural topography across the site and maintain the prominence of the Greek Theater. Along with the planted roofs, an efficient exterior envelope, and high-efficiency building systems, Hillside Auditorium was awarded a LEED Silver certificate for sustainable design. Perry Dean Rogers Partners Architects of Boston, MA served as auditoria design consultants.

“We are very honored to receive this recognition and greatly appreciate the partnership we have created with the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to support their building and sustainability initiatives,” said John Allison, President of Allison Architects. “We always strive to design beautiful, sustainable and functional spaces and we are grateful for this recognition from our peers.”

Hillside Auditorium accommodates theatrical, spoken word, and musical performances and helps fill a niche not met by existing performance spaces found on campus. Notable features of the building include a highly visible entrance and event pavilion that is enclosed on three sides by high-efficiency glazing. The pavilion, located on the uppermost-vegetated roof, incorporates a catering kitchen, ample public seating, and gathering space, allows for expanded uses of the building and exterior spaces for special events.

More information on this project is available at:
http://www.allisonarchitects.com/hillside-auditorium.html

About Allison Architects, Inc.
Led by principals John Allison, AIA, LEED AP and Chris Hartsfield, AIA, Allison Architects, Inc. was founded in 1995 and has distinguished itself by winning numerous awards for state and regional design excellence. It was named “Best Architecture Firm” in 2008 by Arkansas Business’ Best of the Biz Awards. More information is available at www.allisonarchitects.com.

Contact:
John Allison, AIA, LEED AP
Principal Architect
ja@allarch.com
www.allisonarchitects.com
501-376-0717

Chris Hartsfield, AIA
Principal Architect
charts@allarch.com

Aaron Ruby, AIA, LEED AP
Principal Architect
aruby@allarch.com

Hillside Auditorium Photos:

Overview
Hillside Auditorium_Overview.

Hillside Auditorium’s three levels of planted roofs allows for the continuation of the natural topography across the site and maintains the prominence of the Greek Theater (located just out of this image to the left).

Upstairs Entrance
Hillside Auditorium_Upstairs Entrance.

The entry and event pavilion was designed to be the most visible portion of the building.

Interior
Hillside Auditorium_Interior.