HANGZHOU YUHANG OPERA
C hina’s biggest cities are engaged
in an arms race of sorts, with each
seeking to build vibrant new urban
districts around landmark works
of architecture. at’s certainly true
in the growing city of Hangzhou, which has a
population of 6.2 million (7.5 million in the
metropolitan area). A new development in one
of the city’s newest districts, the Yuhang, has
the potential to help the city compete with other
Chinese cities as an international attraction.
e new Hangzhou Yuhang Opera was
designed by Denmark’s Henning
Larsen Architects between 2013
and 2016, and opened in
May 2019. e 70,000m2
(753,474 2) venue features
a 1,400-seat multipurpose
auditorium, a 500-seat
black box theatre and an
exhibition centre. It also
taps into something the
city is already famous for.
Hangzhou’s West Lake, a
UNESCO World Heritage
site, is among its best-known
attractions, so perhaps it is no
surprise that the venue includes a
water feature of its own, the East Lake.
“New cities are being built quite rapidly
all over China,” says Claude Godefroy, design
director for Henning Larsen’s Hong Kong
o ce. “Each of these needs to anchor itself to
something, some place that puts it on the map
and creates a sort of destination. As a result,
these quite large cultural facilities emerge
sometimes out of nowhere. ey hope the
city will develop around this; o en it does. As
architects, we see it as an opportunity, because
the government wants iconic architecture. We
do try to respond to a cultural context, so our
narrative had to relate to Hangzhou. e fact that
it’s by the water is perhaps the most important
component of this region, especially the West
Lake. So we actually created the lake here.”
Up on the roof
e Hangzhou Yuhang Opera is not just nestled
besides this new lake, but becomes part of an
encircling promenade, with the venue’s two
sloped and intersecting masses cantilevered
above an elevated public plaza. Like the famed
Oslo Opera House in Norway, the roof here
extends to ground level to invite visitors to
climb up and enjoy the view.
30 AUDITORIA 2020 VOLUME ONE
The auditorium’s seating
was provided by Dafeng
“ ey wanted a place outside for large
gatherings, but because the lot was divided by
a road we decided the plaza should be elevated
above the ground,” says Godefroy. “ e plaza
covers the lot at a height of some 7m 23 .
It made the building very large and accessible
to the roof, so people can walk around the roof
and enjoy views of the lake.”
e building stretches dramatically over
the edge of the lake, and the architectural
cantilevering provided a unique structural
challenge. “ e front edge of the building
cantilevers with no columns,” explains
Rob May, director of UK-based
engineering rm BuroHappold.
“Above that is this big atrium
space, again with no
columns. So the roof has
to span about 70m 230
between those two end
walls. To do that, the roof
needs to be deep. ere’s
a trade-o of how thin we
could make the structure
for the roof itself.”
The venue has
been built near to
a high-speed rail
station; it is on the
edge of its park
Conference call
Although the venue is known as
the Hangzhou Yuhang Opera, and it stages
musical and theatrical performances, the main
impetus for building it was to provide a venue
for conferences. Once a year it hosts a gathering
of the Communist Party of China leadership.
“ e main idea was to combine the conference
capacity with a grand opera, avoiding the
creation of a white elephant,” says Godefroy.
“ ere was a common interest from the
government and our side in having the exibility
for as many con gurations as possible, keeping
it busy many times a week.”
THE TEAM
Client: City government of
Yuhang district in Hangzhou
Architect: Henning Larsen
Local architect: Hangzhou
Architecture & Civil
Engineering Design Institute
Engineer: Buro Happold
Theatre planning: Kunkel
Acoustic consultant: MBBM
Landscape architect: Henning
Larsen, Bassinet Turquin
Paysage, AECOM
Façade consultant:
Inhabit Group
Contractor: Shanghai
Construction No.4 (Group)