On the banks of the Grand Canal in Tongzhou, China, the eastern gateway to Beijing, Perkins&Will and Schmidt Hammer Lassen (SHL) designed a performing arts center comprised of three venues. While the three structures differ in scale from one another, they share a visual and material symmetry recognizable in their material application: Each of the three distinct volumes is expressed with a undulating, faceted profile, and the roofline forms recall the storehouses that once lined the banks of the waterway.
Perkins&Will and SHL’s combined Shanghai studio was selected for the Beijing Performing Arts Centre project following a 2017 international competition that solicited proposals from practices around the globe. Rather than delivering a singular landmark or skyline-defining design, akin to the Beijing’s National Center for Performing Arts, the architects set out to design a building that would encompasses the nature and water it abuts.
