• people
• projects
• in review
• products
• indesign tv
• events
• parties
• Publications
  • Digital Library
  • Subscriptions
  • offers
• Contact

People reading

23 August 2012

The Wuxi Grand Theatre

Wuxi’s latest cultural landmark rises up from the banks of Wu-Li Lake.

Wuxi, dubbed “Little Shanghai” for its proximity to the cosmopolitan city and its vigorous development in economy, is also a thriving centre for arts and culture – a fact underscored by its newest landmark on a manmade peninsula on the banks of Wu-Li Lake.

The Wuxi Grand Theatre is designed by PES-Architects from Finland. The impressive structure rises up a total of 50 metres like a mega sculpture from a terraced base.

Forming the main architectural gesture of the building are eight wings, which are, according to PES-Architects, also the most architecturally demanding aspect of the build.

Inside the steel wings are thousands of LED lights that change colour according to the character of the performances – made possible by perforated aluminium panels on the underside of the wings.

Another notable feature is the ‘forest’ of 50 light columns, each 9 metres high, which begin from the main entrance square, serve as a support for the roof in the central lobby, and continue outside the lake entrance into the lake.

Bamboo, a local material, covers the Main Opera Auditorium. Over 15,000 solid bamboo blocks are used, all individually shaped according to acoustic needs and architectural considerations.

A Finnish influence is also evident in the 20,000 glass bricks inspired by Finnish nature, lakes and ice, which line the curved wall of the opera auditorium in the lakeside lobby.

The Wuxi Grand Theatre contains a wide variety of functions, but most notably, it houses the 1,680-seat Grand Theatre for classical and Chinese opera, ballet, and symphony orchestral music, and a Comprehensive Performance Hall with a capacity of 690 seats. 

PES-Architects
pesark.com 

PES-Architects

Address: Ison-Antintie 8 00930 Helsinki Finland Phone: +358 9 3417 340 Email: architects@pesark.com Website: pesark.com PES-Architects Limited is a leading and international architectural design firm based in Finland. Established in 1968, the firm's planned and built projects include theatres, airports, and railway terminals. It also designs and builts university buildings, schools, sport facilities retail developments, office buildings, housing developments and demanding refurbishments.

Clestra Presents Metropolines Campfire By Steelcase The Power Of Office Design Sap's Office By Hbo+emtb Jcube: Singapore's Green Mall Rethinking Singapore At The Archifest Forum Nathan Yong's Cut Collection For Domicil Launch Of B&b Italia 2012 At Space Ordos Museum, Inner Mongolia Lanzavecchia + Wai: Cross-border Messengers Designing China's Hotels: Ian Carr Commune Bistro By Pencil Office Sokyo At The Star Architecture For Dogs Lorenzo Rudolf: Building Bridges With Art Geyer’s Flexible Solution For Citi Hansgrohe Raindance Rainfall Steve Leung's Next Move Keith Melbourne’s Blue Lounge At Stylecraft The Evolution Of Saturday In Design Massimiliano Busnelli's Dialogues For B&b Italia