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ARCHIVE 2021
Architects: PES-Architects
Lead Architects: Pekka Salminen, Martin Lukasczyk, Samuel Hsuan-yu Shih, and Lai Linli
Associate Architects: Unit-9 Ceramics and Visual Arts Office
Client: Fuzhou New Town Development Investment Group Co., Ltd.
General Contractor: China Construction Engineering Design Group Co., Ltd.
Photographers: Marc Goodwin and Virgile Simon Bertrand
Located in Mawei New Town, facing the Minjiang River, the Strait Culture and Art Center is about connections. It connects cities and communities along and over the Taiwan Strait. It connects the Fuzhou Mawei New City Development and its waterways to the Minjiang River and the natural environment. And, finally, it connects people to culture.
The five venues of the Strait Culture and Art Center—opera house, concert hall, multi-functional theatre, art exhibition hall and cinema center—are linked by a central concourse and large roof terrace. Dividing the large complex into smaller units gives the Center a more human scale and makes it easy for users to navigate both indoors and outdoors.
The design takes inspiration from the petals of a jasmine blossom, the city flower of Fuzhou. The flower is manifested in both the formal language and color of the architecture. Each petal-shaped building has a core area, a high gallery following the curvature of the main facades, that integrates the interior space with the surrounding gardens through the glazed ceramic facade. The double-curved interior walls are clad with bamboo louvres. In addition to acting as foyers to the venues, the galleries can also be used for functions such as exhibitions and banquets.
The main entrance concourse lobby is an open public space that provides a setting for cultural activities throughout the day. Wide mushroom-shaped columns host elevators and ventilation equipment, while “sky blossoms” in the ceiling introduce daylight and form a connection to the roof terrace above.
Ceramics were used extensively throughout the complex as a functionally and aesthetically appropriate material with historical significance in the context of the Maritime ceramic Silk Road trade connection between China and Europe.
The five main facades are made of ceramic louvres, maximizing the shading capacity of the facade and creating a translucent jasmine white skin for the building. In the interior, the architects worked with Taiwanese ceramic artist Samuel Hsuan-yu Shih to design the artistic ceramic cladding of the two main auditoriums according to high acoustic demands, using the legendary “China White” material and new technology.
The 1600-seat opera hall has a classic horseshoe-shaped layout. The curved wall surfaces are clad with topographic ceramic tiles in different shades of warm grey, combining 13 floral motifs to create a continuous 3000 sqm jasmine branch pattern. The ceramics are complemented by bamboo, another traditionally Chinese material. The railings and selected parts of the walls are clad with CNC-cut solid bamboo. The seats and flooring are also bamboo. The acoustic ceiling reflector in the opera hall also functions as the main lighting element and integrates the two central stage lighting bridges.
The complex double-curved design is shaped out of acrylic. In the 1000-seat concert hall, the orchestra and audience are surrounded by convexly curved walls clad with white ceramic tiles. The three-dimensional tiles are engraved with a floral pattern inspired by the scrolling peonies pattern of the Yuan Dynasty. The pipe organ can be seen as the highlight and focal point of the concert hall.
The contemporary organ facade, framed by a wall of vertical bamboo slats, was designed in close collaboration with Casavant Frères organ builders. The upper side walls, sets and flooring, including stage surfaces, are also of bamboo. The multipurpose hall has a shoebox layout with a total of 702 seats. The parterre has 15 rows on a retractable seating riser and 7 rows on the flat floor in front. The walls are clad with solid CNC-cut bamboo blocks, shaped according to acoustic needs, creating a warm and intimate atmosphere for the audience.
