Huangshan Theatre in Anhui, China

November 03, 2010 Category: Cultural, Public Buildings

Huangshan Theatre, that located in Anhui, China, was designed by Keppie Design, The architects’ first thoughts were predicated on their understanding of the theatre’s place as part of a developing community. An opportunity to use the building’s envelope as part of the theatrical process itself lead them to an outline concept of the auditorium as a solid object set like a jewel within a more transparent and permeable glass box. The potential for the boundary between external and internal public realm to be blurred was an interesting idea for Keppie Design’s team. So too was the possibility of the façade being a canvas upon which continual movement could reflect the vibrancy of performance itself.

The context that the design team were asked to respond to presented an elaborate recreation of very traditional Chinese forms articulated as a static set piece in front of the main volumes of the theatre’s site. Whilst it was clearly important to understand the role of traditional Chinese architecture, the architects felt it equally important that a new civic building in a modern community also hinted at an architectural language which can find cultural recognition through it’s clarity of conceptual approach and a clearly structured application of craft based construction.

Huangshan Theatre Design by Keppie Design