Architects Datafile - 08.2019

(Darren Dugan) #1

T


he city of Wuxi sits on the banks of
the Taihu Lake in the southern
Jiangsu province in China, just north
west of Shanghai. Opposite it, on the other
side of the lake is the Yixing National
Forest Park, also known as the Sea of
Bamboo – thought to be the world’s largest
natural bamboo forest, and the direct
inspiration for the exterior of a new theatre
in the city.
The theatre forms part of sports and
leisure conglomerate Wanda Group’s new
‘cultural tourism city’ – a 240-hectare
development comprising theme parks
(indoor and outdoor), hotels, a residential
area and a commercial centre. It’s the
latest in a series of this type of project for
Wanda in China and, explains Steve
Chilton, director of architects SCA, “the
theatres are kind of seen like a jewel in the
development, the primary cultural draw.”
Before the practice were appointed to
design the project’s external fabric, there
was a “previous version” which didn’t end
up going anywhere. The brief was then
rewritten and the budget changed, and the
client was left needing to appoint someone
at a fairly late stage, and abandoning the
idea to run a competition. Chilton had
worked with them a few years previously,
before setting up his own practice, and so
already had a relationship with them. He
was approached directly and asked to work
on the project towards the end of 2016, “at
a point where they needed to produce
something fairly quickly to hit their original
deadline,” he explains.
The theatre, due to open in December,

will be the home for a single major
spectacle running into the future – a water
show created by renowned theatre director
Franco Dragone. Known for his work on
Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and the water
shows he’s created under his own company
Dragone, his joint venture with Wanda will
see a number of new shows staged across
several venues.

Design inspired by nature
Although each of the ‘cities’ Wanda
constructs is different, many elements
remain similar across them. “With the
theme parks and residential elements, a
certain style is adopted and repeated
around the country,” Chilton explains.
However, the theatres are more individually
designed: “They are a kind of magnet to
draw people towards their development –
they need something to give it an identity.”
It was this notion of creating an ‘identity’
that formed the main brief from the client,
along with something that would have a
“broad appeal”, explains Chilton. “They’re
not interested in creating modern, abstract
architecture.” The practice therefore
had to search for a solution that would
be an interesting visual draw, yet also
recognisable and familiar. “They wanted
something which anyone can look at and
get what it’s about,” he says.
To this end, the designers followed
Wanda’s “very symbol orientated” ethos
and looked for inspiration in the locality. In
this way they could create a building
“which resonates with something about the
local culture in a way that it’s obvious to

Inspired by the ‘Bamboo Forest’ of a nearby national park,
the Wuxi Taihu Show Theatre near Shanghai marks the
entrance to a huge new tourist attraction in its city.
Roseanne Field reports

Forest canopy


WUXI TAIHU SHOW THEATRE
WUXI, CHINA

BUILDING
PROJECTS

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ADF AUGUST 2019 WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK


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