Yangzhou Journal: Grand Canal Theatre China – much more than just a building.

All images ©SFAP and architectural description by TJAD Architects

By Ron Bernthal

As the most important cultural facility in the city of Yangzhou, China, today’s theatre should not be reserved just for art lovers or tourists, but find ways to integrated into the daily life of public. The design for the Grand Canal Theatre focused on the relationship between landscape, building and urban space, and explored a place that is more popular and attractive than a building, a theatre of a garden.

aerial view of Grand Canal Theatre ©SFAP

Yangzhou is a historic city famous for its gardens, canal, culture and art. Yangzhou is located in southwest-central Jiangsu province, in eastern China. With about 4,000,000 residents, it lies to the north of the Yangtze River, at the southern terminus of the section of the Grand Canal that joins the Huai River to the Yangtze.

The Grand Canal Theatre was build as the most important cultural complex in the city. With a total construction area of 1,557,537 square-feet, it features a 1600-seat opera hall, a 800-seat drama hall, a 300-seat multi-function hall, and a Chinese opera hall. TJAD won the international design competition and was awarded the general contract for the design of this project. The theater opened in July 2021.

open cultural gate ©SFAP

Since the site locates between the city and the lake the design put the continuity of urban space first. An courtyard, not a building, becomes the core of the site where the public is welcome to visit whether the theatre is performing or not. The south side of the building toward the lake was build as a bridge in air to bring the lake view inside and to link the cultural center and exhibition center on both side.

The simple and powerful volume covered by stone responds the past of the ancient city, at night it turns into a dynamic screen showing the modern and vibrant face of Yangzhou. The glass curtain walls and terraces around the inner courtyard blurs the boundary of indoor and outdoor. People can explore the facade’s paths and ascend the building like wandering in bamboo forests.

open entrance plaza connecting the building and the lake and the park ©SFAP

As a place for public events, communication and exhibition, the interior space creates a continuous and fluid image through curved walls and ceilings. All theaters features professional equipment to achieve world-class acoustics and are flexible enough to perform in many ways. The four theaters are all different in materials, colors, and atmospheres to form a cultural connection with the four seasons of Yangzhou.

The Moon Garden: a place integrated with art, garden and daily life ©SFAP

The 1,600-seat Grand Theater auditorium is a classic horseshoe theatre built for opera and ballet. It houses approximately1600 visitors in three layers. The whole space seems to be wrapped around by petals. All the lights and audio equipment are well hidden between petals, and can be flexibly adjusted according to the needs of the performance. The hall has a horseshoe-shaped plane and a framed stage for children’s drama, acrobatics, magic shows etc. It houses 800 visitors in two layers. The ear platforms on both sides are in conjunction with the active orchestra pit to expand the area of the stage to let actors and audience get closer. The strip-shaped GRC walls on both sides grow from the ground up like bamboo and join together at the ceiling.

solid facade composed of stone ©SFAP

LED projection on the surface ©SFAP

curved facade and walkway ©SFAP

terraced volume connected through stairs and walkways, creating a three-dimensional circulation ©SFAP

multi-functional hall ©SFAP

The 300-seat multi-function hall (above) is designed in black box mode, equipped with movable seats, active stage and lighting equipment to make it flexible for shows, rehearsal and movies. The walls around are enveloped by a serial of acoustic module which are designed in the shape of ginkgo leaves.

north hall composed of curved GRG and folded marble panels, creating a bright space of art ©SFAP

In the past, Chinese opera were always played outdoors such as courtyard or plaza where audiences can chat and have tea and snacks at the same time. We decided to reproduce an traditional life scene in a modern theater. The Chinese Opera Hall space is planned like a inner courtyard with an upper balcony all around. All the seats and tables are movable and food is allowed. The transformable screen in front of the stage makes it flexible for different needs.

In order to unify the interior space and the exterior facade of the building and obtain better visual effects, the design of the steel structure of the entrance hall uses digital form-finding to keep the structural components highly consistent with the building facade. Through modeling and analysis of the hyperbolic curtain wall, the structural columns, glass, and decorative rods are all optimized as plane components, which greatly reduces the cost and construction difficulty.

The east and west buildings are connected on the 5th floor by a 164 foot-long sky corridor. It serves as a public and multifunctional lobby with a panoramic view of the Moon Lake and the city. The water wave pattern on the ceiling fits the shape of the structure truss and make the space fluid and light.

Natural wind in summer is introduced through the inner courtyard, combined with green plants adapted to Yangzhou’s climate and soil conditions, to create a comfortable microclimate for outdoor activities. Sunshine simulations results show that the building has sufficient sunshine throughout the year, thus maximizing the use of solar energy. The well designed double skin system provides passive ventilation and natural sunlight to reduce the use of air conditioning and artificial lighting.