Yuxi Opera House, China

Yuxi is the birthplace of the famous Chinese composer, Nie’Er, amongst whose works is the Chinese National Anthem. With the completion of the Master Plan for the City of Yuxi, BTA was again commissioned by the City for the new Yuxi Opera Theatre. The main design challenge for this project is to cope with changes in architectural expression, as Yuxi is rapidly transforming from traditional town to modern city. In this situation, it is not only important to understand change, but also what will not change. It is what will not change that will become endearing to the people and the culture: the environment (climate), the building materials and cultural traditions (history, music and art). The design concept is thus based on an understanding of the blending of environmental and cultural issues.

In response to Yuxi’s mild climate and the strong sun of the Himalayas Plateau, the design shields the building from the hot sun and creates a breathable exterior skin in order to reduce the dependence on air conditioning and energy consumption. A light and translucent loop of perforated stainless steel extends from the plaza paving to the walls of an audience chamber, a cloud that hovers over the earthlike, solid audience chamber of local sandstone. The exterior lobby enclosure is a combination of perforated metal and glass open to the sky, obviating the need for air conditioning and reducing heat gain to the audience chamber. The choice of red sandstone draws its inspiration from the Flower Lantern Opera, a popular local tradition of street and teahouse performance. In the evenings the audience chamber will be lit to glow like a red lantern with shimmering light reflected from the water to the floating roof above.

This building, in connection with the development of a new lake, will mark the beginning of the planned civic precinct, the dragon’s head for the downtown of Yuxi City. Accordingly, the facility is expected to be a world-class multi-functional complex, comprising of 1,250-seat opera theatre/concert hall and 150-seat cinema. [Bing Thom Architects]