Ennead Architects Celebrates the Completion of Omaha Performing Arts’ Dick & Mary Holland Campus
New Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement completes Omaha Performing Arts (O-pa) campus, now the largest performing arts institution in Nebraska
On March 19th, Ennead joined longtime client Omaha Performing Arts (O-pa) to celebrate the completion of the Dick and Mary Holland Campus with the official opening of Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement. Ennead has shaped the landmark institution’s home over the course of 20 years, beginning with the Holland Performing Arts Center (2005), a physical symbol of Omaha’s commitment to the musical arts and the city’s burgeoning cultural renaissance. Following its success, Ennead developed a master plan for the full campus and opened the live-music venue Steelhouse Omaha in 2023. Designed as a creative and educational hub for all ages, the 92,213 square-foot Tenaska Center joins a landmark campus that has transformed a former business district into a vibrant cultural destination and new gateway to downtown Omaha.
“When we first designed the Holland Performing Arts Center over 20 years ago, the goal was to create a cultural landmark that cemented the importance of the arts in Omaha’s past, present, and future,” says Stephen Chu, Design Partner at Ennead Architects. “The Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement continues that pledge—it is the backbone of the O-pa campus and the thread that connects the entire Omaha community with the shared joy of the arts. Each building has its own purpose and identity, but together they create a sacred space where creativity is open to all.”
The campus was designed to feel distinct but harmonious, with each building reflecting its specific use while remaining in dialogue with its counterparts. The Holland Center, a performing arts facility primarily geared toward orchestral and acoustic performances, features wood and plaster finishes that foster a warm, intimate atmosphere suited to traditional genres. Steelhouse, designed for amplified music, takes on a sharper, more rugged character that reflects the energy of contemporary performance. The Tenaska Center, which accommodates the institution's expanding education and community engagement programming, inverts this logic of enclosure. Its largely glass facade signals transparency and openness, welcoming the wider Omaha community into the cultural life of the campus.
The building’s exterior is animated by an array of vertical aluminum fins. Treated with a Chameleon paint that shifts between gray and gold depending on solar orientation, the fins minimize heat gain while giving the facade a kinetic presence as light moves across its surface throughout the day. In the evening, the Tenaska Center's transparent envelope is subtly illuminated; paired with the Holland Center's warm glow, the two buildings create a lantern-like effect that activates the surrounding civic plaza.
The building's porous design invites activity from all sides. A formal plaza entry, separate event lobby, outdoor garden with dedicated performance stage, and informal pavilion for presentations and gatherings establish multiple thresholds between campus and city. From the pavilion, visitors can see all three buildings at once, reinforcing the sense of connection that defines the O-pa experience.
A grand atrium anchors the interior of the building, where lively blue-gold color palettes and site-specific artwork by contemporary artists Eva LeWitt and Mary Zicafoose build upon the campus’s creative energy. A sweeping staircase leads visitors upstairs, where multi-functional rehearsal halls, workshops, and classrooms support a wide range of educational and artistic programming, with robust acoustic treatments that allow multiple programs to run concurrently. The building also houses O-pa’s full administrative offices, serving as the operational heart of the campus.
Designed to function as a living laboratory for the performing arts, the Tenaska Center ensures that audiences of every age and background, from young students experiencing a world-class facility for the first time to longtime patrons of Holland Steelhouse, find a home at O-pa.
[Quote from Joan]
Interview with Stephen Chu, Design Architect + Ennead Partner