Over the last few months, many Nanjing pedestrians walking along Mengdu Street in Hexi District have discovered a magnificent and mysterious piece of architecture taking shape. Right next to the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, the space-ship like circles resemble four petals, or four drops of water on a lotus leaf. Now, finally the mystery surrounding the building has been lifted; behold the Jiangsu Grand Theatre.
The project is due for completion by the end of June next year. As the largest cultural project in Jiangsu, the grand theatre is scheduled to cover an area of 19.66 hectares with an investment of ¥2 billion.
Multi-functional Culture Center
The Jiangsu Grand Theater will feature four auditoriums in total; the concert hall, theater hall, variety hall and opera hall. It will include a large 2,300-seat opera house, a 1,500-seat concert hall and a 1,000-seat drama theatre. It will meet the performing needs of opera, ballet, drama, opera, symphony and large variety performances once construction is completed.
The Jiangsu Grand Theatre undertaking is all the more exciting for the long time it has taken to come to fruition; having been in the minds of the Jiangsu provincial government for more than a decade. The aim of this project is to approach the standard of world-class art and fulfill the growing demand of locals for culturally enriched lifestyles.
This new piece of work comes from a rather famed architectural powerhouse, the East China Architectural Design & Research Institute, which was involved in the construction of the Shanghai World Financial Center and Shanghai Expo Culture Center. The acoustic consultants Marshall Day will work in collaboration with architect ECADI and theatre planner Kunkel to provide an acoustic experience of the highest quality to future theatre goers.
Local Art Development
Once the construction is completed, Nanjing can look forward to a culturally enriched landscape. Aside from bringing world-class performances to Nanjing, local culture will be portrayed and promoted to a wider of audience, displaying the rich cultural traditions of Jiangsu province. Various folk music of each area has gradually developed into local opera. There are more than 20 types of opera, among them, Kunqu Opera is one of the most renowned and prestigious operas in the entire country, and has exerted comparatively great influence on the development of the internationally famous Beijing Opera. Still it is one of many more in Jiangsu province alone, other styles including Pingtan Opera, a form of storytelling accompanied by music, Xiju Opera, originating from Changzhou and Wuxi, and Huaiju being popular further north around Yancheng.
In the past, only small local theatres in each city and a few old stages in some small villages were available for these traditional forms of art, making it difficult to maintain or grow their popularity. Jiangsu Grand Theatre will be the very first large integrated stage for all traditional art from all over the province, marking a milestone in the preservation of Jiangsu’s cultural inheritance.
Connecting Theatres and Sports Centres
Unlike London and New York, most Chinese cities don’t feature a prevalent theatre scene. Without too many old theatres, cities in Jiangsu often choose to build new theatres beside the sports center. First of all, sports and culture are usually put into the same category of business and they are even under the same administration department. Secondly, combining these two civil infrastructures will create a block that benefits citizens’ life. They will enjoy a specialized area for their leisure time— exercise combined with aesthetic appreciation and save time on the road to manage two pleasures at one time. Moreover, this block for sports and culture is bound to be the next hot spot in the city and simulate the economy of the whole neighbourhood.
Nanjing’s constant development and advancement comes in many guises. With the new theatre Nanjing is once again making a leap in becoming a nationally leading hub for culture and the arts. The future looks exciting.
