ASU Gammage

In 1957 then ASU President Grady Gammage called on famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright to help create a unique auditorium for the university. Originally Wright had the design that would eventually become Gammage Auditorium in mind for Baghdad, Iraq but ended up placing the opera house in Tempe instead. The 3,000-seat performance hall is 80 feet tall and measures 300 by 250 feet, flanked on either side by giant pedestrian bridges. The construction of the $2.46 million building – the only public building Wright designed in the state of Arizona – took 25 months and was completed in September 1964. The multifunctional auditorium can be used for opera, musical and dramatic productions, symphony concerts and lectures. And today, Arizona State University's Gammage is one of the largest university-based presenters of performing arts in the world.