The building in Nanning in the south of the PRC, near the border with Vietnam, is already the fourth "big theater" built by gmp architects in China. Before that, there were examples in Chongqing, Qingdao and Tianjin. In all cases, the resources of such a structure include a hall for opera performances in the European spirit, premises for a variety of concerts, drama, dance and other performances. Such a theater not only becomes the center of local cultural life, but also attracts residents of other cities, turning into a tourist attraction.
The Guangxi Cultural and Art Center has appeared on the banks of the Yongjiang River: on a stylobate faced with natural stone (where all the service premises are hidden), three volumes of halls are placed, the surface of which is covered with large profiles of white aluminum. The architects compare the image of the theater with the karst landscape for which the Guangxi region is famous.
The main, opera, hall for 1600 seats with a stage of 600 m2 overlooks a new artificial lake; its layout is traditional, in the shape of a horseshoe. There it was possible to achieve optimal acoustic qualities - a reverberation period of 1.5-1.8 seconds. The concert hall for 1200 spectators with a plan in the shape of an elongated hexagon is intended for a variety of academic concerts, from chamber music to large-scale symphonies of the late 19th and 20th centuries. In a small, multifunctional hall, using an electronic system, you can set any reverberation time, which allows you to stage drama and ballet performances, musicals, etc. The transformable stage also makes it possible to host fashion shows.
