To enhance the connection with the Park, an 84-foot wide section of the glass façade will be retractable to a height of 23 feet, literally opening up the Grand Lobby, Cafe and Box Circle-level Restaurant to Performance Park. From within the Winspear Opera House, the Simmons Glass Façade provides a sweeping view of the skyscrapers of downtown Dallas that line the northern edge of the Performance Park. The transparent façade provides dramatic views of the Margaret McDermott Performance Hall, which will be clad in vibrant red glass panels.

The opera house's principal entrance features the 60-foot Annette and Harold Simmons Signature Glass Façade that wraps three-quarters of the way around the building, creating a transparency between the opera house and the surrounding Performance Park. The Winspear Opera House will provide state-of-the-art performance spaces for The Dallas Opera, Texas Ballet Theater, traveling Broadway productions, and numerous other performing arts organizations and touring productions that serve Dallas and the surrounding areas. The Winspear Opera House will also include the Nancy Hamon Education and Recital Hall, a space that can be used for smaller performances seating audiences up to 200, as well as classes, rehearsals, meetings and events. A 21st century reinterpretation of the traditional 'horseshoe' opera house, the Winspear Opera House's principal performance space, the Margaret McDermott Performance Hall, will seat 2,200 (with capacity up to 2,300) and will feature retractable screens, a spacious fly-tower and variable acoustics.

Orchestra terrace winspear opera house