Laureate Chinese Opera
18 February 2010
Taipei-based architecture firm Artech won the design competition for a new theater building dedicate to Chinese Opera. The project includes a 1 000-seat opera theater and a 300-seat studio theater. The building will be shared with several other cultural organizations, including a choir and an orchestra.
The goal was to develop several configurations to allow the theater designers a range of staging possibilities, allowing for both traditional and contemporary interpretations. The design of the main theater mixes a court-yard style theater with a proscenium. The design of the forestage is inspired by the high thrust stages of some traditional Chinese Operas, yet in a very flexible way. The stage can be extended all the way to the cross-aisle in front of a relatively steep parterre.
The studio theater is designed with a flexible seating system to allow for many room configurations. Most of the technology is in the ceiling grid, which is designed to have a tension-wire grid.
During the competition, dUCKS worked closely with Artech's architectural team on the design and development of the typologies of the theaters, the setting of sightlines. dUCKS also assisted in the planning of the backstage facilities and all theater technology.
Our colleagues at CSI in Taipei will carry the project forward.
