Completed Yada Theater in China

Chinese architecture practice GOA has completed a theater complex in Yangxian Xishan in Yixing.

It is a county-level city in Jiangsu Province, in a region of southeast China that is rich in cultural and natural resources.

Design features

Named after Yada Theatre, the 6,000-square-meter building is a “porous sponge that absorbs and embraces visitors and the surrounding environment.”

Since the Song Dynasty, Yixing has been the capital of Chinese pottery production, known for its earthenware.

In addition, it contains the largest bamboo forest in China, which is an important tourist attraction.

In the context of contemporary urbanization, Yangxian Xishan is a successful practice of rural revitalization in Yixing.

As it is the first small city to achieve regional openness and self-employment,

the Yada Theater is the cultural landmark of the city.

Design Location

The site is located next to Yangxian Lake, in a mountainous area covered by 400 hectares of primeval bamboo forest.

Mountains, bamboo groves, and lakes make up the local landscape system.

Within this unique geographical condition, Yada Theater incorporates existing environmental aesthetics into its design.

It also develops a new approach to the cultural space,

by integrating architectural formation with nature in a way that embraces modernity while preserving regional identity.

Besides taking cultural function requirements as a principle for spatial organization,

the design integrates physical experience and geomorphological features to create an integrated spatial method.

From the central courtyard, a series of gray spaces expand in different directions and intersect at every corner.

Their inner and outer facades extend into courtyards and are connected by covered walkways,

providing a free circulation system that follows the slope of the hills to preserve the existing geomorphology to the greatest extent.

The decentralized architectural scale balances the perception of topography and the body to establish an intimate bond between humans and the environment.

This subtle synergy between ground form and structural formation creates a strong visual tension between architecture and context,

such that the entire structure appears to float above the ground.

Project design strategy

The implementation of the traditional Jiangnan garden layout is

an anti-modernization design strategy that ignores the excessive space and exclusive function of traditional theaters.

This is to provide community services to the surrounding population, such as public gatherings,

cultural events, and recreational activities.

This design may reflect an oriental perspective on nature that seeks to integrate artificial structures into the landscape,

on a human scale while retaining architectural clarity.

It also presents the land space in a shared, open,

and accessible way that encourages people to participate in the space through wandering between architecture and nature.

Thus, architecture is seen as a porous sponge that absorbs and embraces the visitors and the surrounding environment.

Design form

Performances will take place on stage, while the rest will become venues for cultivating a variety of spontaneous activities and enhancing lively daily scenarios.

This design approach extends beyond the architectural scope,

aiming to benefit local residents, incoming visitors, the surrounding communities in general,

and the wider environment.