Ten years ago, Molly Smith, the artistic director for the pavillion, decided the building needed a significant upgrade and picked Bing Thom Architects for the job since his request for Arena’s mission statement impressed Smith, said Chad Bauman, director of communications for Arena Stage. Bing Thom seemed to have a clear vision for the building.

“It’s unlike anything in Washington,” said James Brown, a director at Bing Thom Architects. “It’s open, has curvatures and uses rough edges like raw steel and concrete. We tried to do something that was very different.”

Along with the renovation, the theater was renamed “Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater” in honor of philanthropists Jaylee and Gilbert Mead. Because of the Meads’ generosity, the theater was able to proceed with the renovation.

While the renovation increased the size of the building, it also decreased the amount of street noise entering the Fichandler Stage, the primary performance space in the building.

“There was nowhere near as much traffic and air traffic as there is now,” Bauman said. “You could hear all of that in the theaters, and it was hard to hear an actor when an airplane would fly over.”

The Fichandler Stage is the most famous old space in the Arena, Brown said. Bing Thom wanted to preserve the building’s history during renovation while still improving the acoustics. The architect accomplished this by keeping the original structure and surrounding it with an outer shell of glass.

The glass is both aesthetic and functional. The glass that decorates the outside of the theater allows passersby to observe what is going on inside the theater, such as preparations for the shows.

“It looks really pretty from the outside,” said junior Katie Myers, a frequent visitor to the theater. “There’s a lot more space so there are many new opportunities to perform new shows.”

The project, initially expected to be completed prior to the 2007-2008 season, was finished three years later than expected. As a result, the renovation coincidentally marks the sixtieth anniversary of the theater.

The new theater opened with a production of “Oklahoma!” because Smith wanted the song “Oh, It’s a Beautiful Morning,” a song about a brand new beginning, to be the first musical performance in the building, Bauman said. The show premiered Oct. 22.