Stufish Architects were tasked to create a technologically ambitious 2000 seats building that reflected Wuhan’s cultural heritage and history. The state-of-the-art theatre houses the theatrical, acrobatic water spectacle ‘The Han Show’, by Franco Dragone.
The intent was to recreate an instantly recognisable and iconic Chinese symbol. The concept is based on the Chinese lantern. The traditional bamboo superstructure is reinterpreted as eight intersecting tubular steel rings, suspended in orbit around the theatre fly tower. The paper surface is suggested through a series of cable nets. Each of the 18,000 structural nodes support a red concave aluminum disk, representing a symbolic artefact from the Han Dynasty. Each disk can be individually illuminated, which when combined can reproduce video images across the entire building façade. The podiums’ slender support columns represent the lantern’s tassels.
The entire building design was informed by three unique performance features: moveable auditorium seats, a 10 million liter performance pool, and three moveable LED screens which were designed to be the largest in the world and to add an ever-changing cyclorama to the stage.
The moveable seats allow the theatre to change shape and configuration during the show. The audience begins their viewing experience in the traditional proscenium setup, eventually the lower 1,000 seats smoothly swing open to the left and right, and the top 1000 seats slide down to the main level. Once the movement has been completed a 10 meter deep performance pool is revealed.
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