DUTS design brings Oman to China with Linxia Grand Theater
Linxia, China is the home of DUTS Design’s enormous theater, Linxia Grand Theater. It is based on Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque’s architecture with its 46 meters height and 90 meters in diameter.
Linxia, China is the home of DUTS Design’s enormous theater, Linxia Grand Theater. It is based on Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque’s architecture with its 46 meters height and 90 meters in diameter.
DUTS bridges the contemporary design with the middle eastern aesthetic. The goal was to evoke the mosque’s architecture without embodying it. It was quite the challenge for the architectural design firm to replicate Oman’s Grand Mosque in the form of a gigantic public space. The shape and the texture are both based on the place of worship. Add to that the modernism brought into the traditional building.
The theater’s dome shows the effort and creative genius of DUTS. To recreate the mosque’s signature dome, DUTS could have went with the aluminum curtain walling, which is expensive and expected. As an alternative, the weave was created by cross sectioning steel beams, analogous to the “Bird’s Nest” of the Olympic Sports Center in Beijing.
With that choice, DUTS saved lots of money by combining the shell’s structure and the curtain wall’s texture and structure into one weave. The white façade looks closely knit from the top, and then the knits open up towards the bottom, giving the theater a dimension that is full of life.
To make most out of the space and not downsize the dome’s height, Linxia Grand Theater, DUTS decided to home the theater’s main body on level one, and dedicate the ground level for VIP lounges and big spaces adaptable to different needs.
As for the seating, they are split between the floor and the pool. In total, up to 1,052 spectators can enter the auditorium: 860 people can enjoy a pool seat, and 192 others can catch the show from a floor seat.
Moving on to the centerpiece, the stage! The stage takes the shape of Chinese character “品” and is divided to a two-part zone of 120 square meters of music pool. And the center performance stage has many functions, including a 15 square meters of stage platform, 5 double electric lifts, a ballet stage, and a walking 14 meters diameter turntable among other features. All of these parts are computer-controlled: they can be digitally manipulated to create the desired shape of every art and culture event. To top it off, the muted AC and ventilation system able you to experience the theater with the ideal noise level. Linxia Grand theater is breathtaking, versatile and well-thought from the inside out.
- date publishedJune 1, 2021
- categoryArchitecture
- original sourceDesign Boom↗
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