Daguan Theatre, Himalayas Center
Interior design of a auditorium with 1200 seats.
Located in the PuDong District of Shanghai, the DaGuan Theater is part of the Himalayas Center designed by Arata Isozaki & Associates. This project includes a lobby, a boutique, a bar/cafe and a multipurpose space for 1200 spectators. This multipurpose facility consists of ten lifting platforms, modulating the spatial configuration according to several programs: theatre, conferences, exhibitions, fashion shows, banquets and boxing matches. It attempts to both magnify the surrounding structure and create an interaction between this existing organic architecture and the new intervention.
The design strategy is based on two different directions. Firstly, the rough organic cave is domesticated with a light structure wrapped with PVC fabric. This articulates a duality between high-tech and low-tech, to create a tension between the existing cave’s harshness and the textile’s softness. This arrangement creates a specific interstitial condition between both the existing and the new project, where visitors can freely explore and stroll around. Secondly, both scenic treatment and furniture are designed as a flexible system allowing easy modifications and multiple configurations. On one side, light devices are concentrated into modular hanging “clouds” made of honeycomb mesh. On the other side, furniture consists of smooth modular shapes delicately disposed on the floor, creating an abstract composition having a dialogue with the existing.
