Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Performing arts center in downtown Houston, United States

The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts is a theater in downtown Houston, Texas, opened in 2002. It contains two theaters: Sarofim Hall, with 2,650 seats, and Zilkha Hall, with 500 seats. The building has 60-foot-high glass walls, limestone and brick cladding, painted steel columns, and a standing seam metal roof. Outside, Tony Cragg's two-part bronze sculpture "In Minds" stands at Hines Plaza.

The Hobby Center opened in 2002 on the edge of Houston's Theater District, replacing the former Houston Music Hall and Sam Houston Coliseum. It was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Morris Architects, inspired by the early-20th-century Manhattan theater designers Herts & Tallant. General contractor Lyda Swinerton built it, and the center is named for former Texas lieutenant governor William P. Hobby Jr., whose family foundation gave the naming gift.

Sarofim Hall seats 2,650 and is home to Theatre Under the Stars; its Joe and Lee Jamail Celestial Dome Ceiling uses fiber-optic stars to copy the Texas night sky. Zilkha Hall, a 500-seat jewel box, hosts the Uniquely Houston series, which supports smaller local groups such as Psophonia Dance Company, Maggini String Orchestra and Ars Lyrica Houston.

The center sits on the edge of the Houston Theater District downtown, with its entrance under the flat white canopy on the glass facade. Sarofim Hall seats 2,650 across orchestra, mezzanine and upper gallery tiers, while Zilkha Hall holds 500. The 60-foot glass walls look out toward Tranquility Park and Houston City Hall.

Two artworks were commissioned for the center: Sol LeWitt's mural "Wall Drawing 2002" anchors the Grand Lobby, while Tony Cragg's two-part bronze "In Minds" stands outside at Hines Plaza, its forms echoing human profiles. The stacked stone sculptures in front of the glass facade are easy to pass without a second look.