Grand Thatre Chongqing, China

Object Type
Concert Halls
Theatres

Client
Chongqing Jiangbeizui CBD Development & Investment Co., Ltd., China

Architects
gmp Architekten von Gerkan, Marg und Partner, Hamburg/Berlin

Completion
2009

Expertises
Building Acoustics
Room Acoustics

The industrial metropolis Chongqing with a population of 8 million is located on the Yangtze River, approx. 2,400 kilometers up the river from Shanghai. The Grand Theater, designed by gmp Architekten, was built on the headland facing the skyline of Chongqing. The building includes an opera house for an audience of 1,800 as well as a multi-purpose hall seating 800. Both halls feature stages with sophisticated technology, and their respective fly towers are clearly visible in the building‘s silhouette.

The horseshoe-shaped opera house does not have any side balconies, but instead features two centrally located rear balconies. This design not only ensures very good sightlines to the stage but also a perfect supply of direct sound. Moreover, the undulating shape of the wooden wall panels even increases the balanced sound impression.

In the multi-purpose hall, acoustic fabric blinds can be unwound on large areas behind a sound-transparent metal mesh, thus facilitating a flexible adjustment of the acoustics depending on the respective kind of usage. Special attention was also paid to the acoustic separation between the two adjoining stages so that both halls can be used simultaneously without any disturbances.

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