In the Fuzhou Strait Culture and Arts Centre Concert Hall, the extensive use of ceramics are functionally and aesthetically appropriate - and truly Chinese material - used in various ways throughout the building. It symbolically links to the overall design concept, based on the Centre's location by the Taiwan Strait, as well as the historical context of the Maritime Silk Road trade route between China and the rest of the world.
The 1000 seat Concert Hall is just one of the three performance spaces featured in the Fuzhou Strait Culture and Arts Centre complex. The acoustical shape of the hall optimizes all the reflecting surfaces to result in a 'rich reverberation and uncompromised musical clarity'. Two levels of curved and inclining walls surround the orchestra and its audience to create a large number of 'early lateral and enveloping reflections'.
The Fuzhou SCAC Opera Hall is another one of the three performance spaces within the Fuzhou Strait Culture and Arts Centre with 1,600 seats and an extensive use of beautiful Chinese ceramics, which have been used in many ways throughout the building. The layout of the opera hall was inspired by the classical horseshoe shape with curved wall surfaces, enveloped in warm grey ceramic tiles and topped with 13 floral motifs to create the continuous 3000 m2 jasmine branch pattern.
Bamboo detailing - another traditionally Chinese material - was used to complement the ceramic interior. The bamboo seats and flooring are a supplement to the ceramics, as well as the railings and selected parts of the walls, which are adorned with CNC-cut solid bamboo.
Qujiang Creative Cultural Centre is a state-of-the-art multi-functional theatre that will host a diverse palette of cultural performances, concerts, educational events and exhibitions. It is where social interactions, community engagements, cultural inclusion, local creativity and the collective identity of people in Xi’an can be nurtured and celebrated.
The design responds to the local context, introducing elements and materials that evoke a modern re-interpretation of Chinese architectural repertoires and traditions that characterise the Xi’an region. This design vocabulary is seamlessly embodied throughout all spaces, from the city scale down to the smallest of human scales.
To see more amazing entries from this year’s WIN Awards please click here.