The Palm Beach Opera held an invited competition in 2000 to design a new opera house in downtown West Palm Beach. The Opera is a professional company which performs in the Kravis Center, a Theater which was designed to have a multitude of performance events ranging from touring Broadway Shows to regional theater and musical performances. The Opera wanted to have a more intimate 1500 seat theater with acoustics designed specifically for Opera and to schedule performances when they were more convenient.

In addition to the opera hall, the design featured prefunction space, an outdoor garden and commissioned art. Schematic design was completed.