Szostak Design, Inc.

06/05/2026

Before the theater that Durham knows, there was the theater we first imagined.

These early sketches and renderings are from our original DPAC proposal — a bolder vision that included a second stage for the American Dance Festival. Some people found them radical. That was fair.

What followed was better. A deep dive into the design with small study models, public dialogue, and the kind of honest scrutiny that only comes when a community truly cares about what it’s building. Every comment, every question, every raised eyebrow pushed the design somewhere better.

The theater that opened in 2008 was shaped as much by that process as by anything we drew. Good architecture usually is.

06/05/2026

Before the theater that Durham knows, there was the theater we first imagined.

These early sketches and renderings are from our original DPAC proposal — a bolder vision that included a second stage for the American Dance Festival. Some people found them radical. That was fair.

What followed was better. A deep dive into the design with small study models, public dialogue, and the kind of honest scrutiny that only comes when a community truly cares about what it’s building. Every comment, every question, every raised eyebrow pushed the design somewhere better.

The theater that opened in 2008 was shaped as much by that process as by anything we drew. Good architecture usually is.

06/04/2026

The site was the City’s old bus maintenance facility. The groundwater was floating on nine feet of automatic transmission fluid. The county jail was 100 yards away. Abandoned car lots wrapped in chain-link fencing on every side. Nobody thought you could build a world-class theater there. That’s exactly what made it worth doing.

Twenty-five years ago this week, we were walking that site for the first time, trying to see what it could become. The contamination. The scale. The location — close enough to downtown Durham to matter, neglected enough that no one else wanted it. We saw a stage.

This week, was ranked the #1 theater in America by Magazine. Over $1 billion in measured economic impact. Nearly 600,000 guests a year. A city transformed.

We think about that site visit often. Architecture begins long before the first line is drawn — it begins with the willingness to see possibility where others see problems.

That’s the practice. That’s always been the practice.

06/03/2026

What does the #1 theater in America look like? It looks like Durham. Magazine has ranked the top venue in the United States for 2026 — above the Beacon Theatre in New York, the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, and the Chicago Theatre.

Szostak Design served as architect and lead developer of DPAC. In 2001, challenged us to build the finest performing arts center possible without spending a dollar of general fund revenue.

We answered with a fully guaranteed development model — using the dedicated hotel tax revenues, the $46M project budget was locked by Skanska’s guaranteed maximum construction cost, and operations entrusted to PFMvenues and the Nederlander Organization’s guaranteed net operating agreement and contracted corporate and personal naming rights revenue. The building opened November 30, 2008. B.B. King and our local Mel Melton and the Wicked Mojos played opening night.

But this ranking belongs to the people who made it run. PFM and Nederlander built a culture of excellence inside those walls that no development model could have guaranteed. Bob Klaus and his team turned a great theater into a destination. That’s theirs.

The real story isn’t the #1. It’s the city that grew up around it. Before DPAC: one downtown hotel, a struggling core, an uncertain future. After: six hotels, sixty-plus restaurants, a billion dollars in economic impact, and a national identity Durham wears with pride.

Architecture at its best doesn’t just house culture. It builds it. Not bad for a bus garage site.

06/02/2026

is the #1 ranked venue in the United States. Billboard Magazine. 2026🥇


We had the privilege of designing it and leading its development for the City of Durham — built for $46M on a site nobody else would touch, without a single dollar of city general funds.

Proof that great public architecture changes cities. Durham is the evidence.

More of the story this week💫

05/29/2026

Yesterday we celebrated the groundbreaking for the renovation and expansion of the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. We are beyond excited to see construction begin on this transformative project, which will bring new exhibit experiences, educational spaces, and a Sand Tiger Shark habitat.

We are grateful to continue collaborating with , stakeholders, and consultant team to help shape the next chapter of this important destination.

04/27/2026

Philip Szostak is live today on the US Modernist Radio! Tune in as he shares his career journey, early influences, insights on residential design, Durham Performing Arts Center project, and more.

Huge thank you to Ben Taylor and team!

04/20/2026

After months of sitework, our building addition at the Lucy Daniels Center is now rapidly taking shape above ground. With footings and foundation walls complete, construction has reached a major milestone. The main floor framing is already halfway finished, revealing the building’s form and scale for the first time.

Photos by

02/16/2026

Watts Street House | Durham, NC

The house is molded by the contextually rich neighborhood that it is situated in. Its volumetric form, large front porch and axial fenestration composition responds to its immediate neighbors while the program allows the clients to achieve their modern lifestyle.

02/13/2026

Thank you e-architect for this feature:

Designed by Szostak Design, Inc. the Chickadee Road Residence is a wood-framed house in North Carolina, USA. The client’s desire for a connection to beauty of the natural world directed the design process from the onset

https://www.e-architect.com/america/chickadee-road-residence-durham-north-carolina