gmp Architekten, Tianjin Grand Theater, China

The opera season at the Grand Theater in Tianjin, China?s biggest theatre, designed by gmp Architekten, opened with an Italian opera, Tosca.

After winning the 2009 design competition, gmp Architekten built a construction with a volumetric composition inspired by the concepts of earth and the sky, basic keys to Chinese philosophy.

The theatre, which is China?s biggest, fits into the new Tianjin cultural park. The structure?s round shape is determined by the need to establish an architectural relationship with the Museum of Natural History, which already stood in the same park.

Seem from the side, the volume of the roof looks like a shell opening up toward the lake, a "lightweight" structure made entirely of clear glass which seems to "float" in the air and rest on the "solid" opaque stone base.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: gmp Architekten
Location: Tianjin, China
Images: Christian Gahl courtesy of gmp Architekten

www.gmp-architekten.de
www.christiangahl.com