Beijing Performing Arts Center, China

China has opened a new performing arts complex in Tongzhou, a historic port on the Grand Canal and the eastern gateway to Beijing. Designed by Perkins&Will’s and Schmidt Hammer Lassen, the Beijing Performing Arts Centre is a collection of major civic projects that also includes a museum, a library, and extensive parklands. Consisting of three world-class venues—an opera house, a theater, and a concert hall—as well as a multipurpose hall and an outdoor stage, the Beijing Performing Arts Centre will host hundreds of performances each year—everything from traditional Chinese and Western operas to orchestral performances, stage dramas, and dances.

The buildings recall Tongzhou’s importance as a commercial shipping and storage hub by referencing the rooflines of the storehouses that formerly lined the canal’s banks and the sails of traditional canal boats. The forms simultaneously evoke a theater curtain parting at the beginning of a performance. A broad plinth, accessed from all directions by splayed steps and ramps, unifies the complex. This elevated platform extends the buildings’ lobbies into the surrounding forested park, setting up the relationship between the interiors, the landscape, and the Grand Canal. The design team incorporated sustainable features throughout the project that promote human and ecosystem health, earning the project a China Three Star rating for environmental performance.

References:

www.perkinswill.com

www.archdaily.com

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