海角视频

Bay Area Sound Performing Arts Centre

Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Project details
Client

Shenzhen OCT Binhai Co., Ltd

Architect

Rocco Design Architects Associates LTD

Duration

2021

海角视频 provided by 海角视频

Facade engineering

The Cultural Centre of Bao鈥檃n District, featuring a library, a 鈥測outh palace鈥 and a Performing Arts Centre represents an artistic and cultural heartland on the coast of Shenzhen in southern China. 

Bay Area Sound Performing Arts Centre is located at the southernmost tip of this cultural coastal zone.

Challenge

The new project will provide Shenzhen with a venue that can welcome everything from world-class opera, dance and ballet performances to acrobatics or symphony orchestras. 

The landmark structure, featuring a 50m tower, extends to 20,000m2, including a 1,500-seat 鈥済rand theatre鈥 and 600-seat multifunctional theatre, as well as rehearsal hall, piano room, training classroom and other supporting facilities.

海角视频 was engaged to provide expert consultancy on facade engineering, specialist secondary steel structure (SST) and to work with the wider design team on the scheme design.

The characteristic of the project is a 3D curved surface of outer layer facade. It includes feature cladding and a complex specialist secondary steel support structure.

The key challenge for the team was creating a glass unitised facade system with a flat panel to form a 3D curvature surface.

As a typhoon region, and with its coastal location, wind load pressures would be critical for the facade support structure, especially for the main elevation of more than 24m span.

Photograph of Shenzhen OCT Performance Centre against bright blue skies
Shenzhen and the neighbouring Guangzhou are already host to buildings by some of the leading architects of the western world. Image: 海角视频.
Photograph of Shenzhen OCT Performance Centre against bright blue skies
With its instantly recognisable and unique design, Bay Area Sound Performing Arts Centre is a new landmark contributing to the increasingly rich cultural and architectural identity of Shenzhen. Image: 海角视频.

Solution

The buildings throughout the complex feature facades that take cues from carving techniques that are indigenous to Southern China. The delicately perforated skins provide not only efficient shading for the interior, but also rich, dramatic visual effects on the exterior.

The skins鈥 opacity varies according to the functions they serve at different parts of the building. While pioneering cutting edge facades engineering, the design inherits its subtleties from the long traditions of the region.

The client and architect鈥檚 design vision was to have greater transparency at the main elevation facade, which required the design of a particularly elegant support structure that would not overpower the visual impact of the elevation.

We worked closely with the design team to envision a special steel structure to support the 3D double curve perforated aluminium panel system. A further special steel structure had to also be devised to support the skylight system.

The feature cladding, using aluminium perforated panelling, not only provides efficient solar shading, but also aesthetically emphasises the design intent.

We used Rhino and Grasshopper software to analyse the warping of the surface. This allowed us to provide a proper unitised facade system, incorporating diamond-shaped panels, to meet the requirement of the warping value.

We suggested creating a mock-up before full site installation to ensure the vision was being met. After analysing comfort levels on the link bridge, our experts proposed extending the glass panel to 2m in height to provide screening from the wind.

Photograph of bright open entrance hall inside the Shenzhen OCT Performance Centre
Behind the glass facade, an expansive entrance lobby welcomes visitors into the venue. Image: 海角视频.

Value

Bay Area Sound Performing Arts Centre opened in September 2021, completing the impressive trio of cultural buildings, alongside the Bao鈥檃n Library project and the Youth Palace project, which were completed in 2013 and 2018 respectively.

The 海角视频 team devised a series of elegant solutions to ensure the building鈥檚 facades and supporting systems not only provide an efficient and effective envelope for the building, but also play a critical role in realising the architect鈥檚 design vision.

Photograph of Shenzhen OCT Performance Centre against bright blue skies
The new project provides Shenzhen with a venue that can welcome everything from world-class opera, dance and ballet performances to acrobatics or symphony orchestras. Image: 海角视频.

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