Studio Zhu-Pei’s design philosophy is focused on Nature Architecture, which means its projects’ designs are deeply rooted in the site location’s natural landscape and culture.
Zhu Pei searched for landscape-related references to solve the architectural challenges for the Performing Arts Centre. A widely cantilevered rectangular roof spans across a built landscape of free-flowing indoor and outdoor spaces, some of which can be combined as an interacting spatial system.
As with mountains and valleys, the strong shape of the roof reflects the more organic landscape below and points to the old Chinese principle of yin and yang, where two opposites combine together to form a whole. Formally expressed as organic-shaped hills, the partly sunken spaces transform into a natural garden landscape.