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36 STYLE | architecture<br />
D<br />
esigned by Ma Yansong from MAD<br />
Architects, the new opera house<br />
in the northern Chinese city of Harbin<br />
not only displays the latest in theatre<br />
and architectural design, but it also<br />
responds positively to its location and<br />
environment.<br />
Yansong says, “We envisage Harbin<br />
Opera House as a cultural centre of<br />
the future – a tremendous performance<br />
venue, as well as a dramatic public<br />
space that embodies the integration<br />
of human, art and the city identity,<br />
while synergistically blending with the<br />
surrounding nature.”<br />
The 79,000m² building features two<br />
theatres, a roof performance space, and<br />
associated support spaces.<br />
There are many things I like about<br />
this building, all of which can be divided<br />
into the plan, the form and materiality.<br />
The Plan<br />
The plan of a building really<br />
indicates how it “works”. By this<br />
I mean how people – in this case<br />
the visitors, the performers and<br />
the staff – use it.<br />
There is one very large exterior<br />
entrance court acting as a public<br />
space on a grand scale. From here,<br />
people are led into two foyers,<br />
each relating to their specific<br />
performance spaces.<br />
While the main theatre might<br />
appear large in a photograph,<br />
when you view it in plan it is<br />
dwarfed by the back-of-house and<br />
stage areas. This really shows the<br />
number of support areas required<br />
for such a building.<br />
The overall form of the plan is<br />
very curvaceous, and this has been<br />
extended into the third dimension,<br />
into the form of the building.
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