Hangzhou Grand Theatre

Hangzhou Grand Theatre is a performing-arts complex designed by Carlos Ott with the Petroff architectural practice. Its curved aluminium roof and conical glazed volume give the building a sculptural form, with the principal auditorium expressed on the exterior. The complex brings together a 1,600-seat opera house, a concert hall of approximately 600 seats and a 400-seat multifunctional hall, together with outdoor performance space. The different rooms allow opera, orchestral concerts and smaller productions to be presented within one cultural centre. Its architectural design combines contemporary construction with references to traditional Chinese roof forms and complementary natural shapes. Built by the city government and in use from July 2004, the theatre stands on the Qiantang riverfront at the south end of Qianjiang New City, to a design by Carlos Ott. Its 55,000 square metres hold four rooms: a horseshoe opera house of 1,600 seats with a stage 68 metres wide, a shoebox concert hall of 614 seats with a Steinway D-274 and an Austrian organ, a convertible 400-seat theatre and a sunken open-air theatre for 700.