Credit: MAD Architects

We want to create the experience of taking people to a different world through the architecture and the music. I want to make people think they arrived in another place
– Ma Yansong

Ma Yansong and MAD Architects have unveiled their design for a brand new China Philharmonic Hall in Beijing.

Located in the bustling business district of Sanlitun next to the multipurpose Beijing Workers Stadium, the building will take the form of a curving 11,600sq m (125,000sq ft) structure covered by a translucent curtain facade.

Lush trees and lotus ponds will be installed around the south side of the site in order to make the concert hall seem as though it emerges from a jungle or “holy garden”. In the daytime, natural light will travel through the semi-transparent white walls, while in the evenings the venue will glow in the dark. The idea is that concert-goers can "escape" from busy city life.

In an exclusive interview with CLAD, Ma said: “There are a lot of people [in this district], which is good for the circulation, but we want to create the experience of taking people to a different world through the architecture and the music. I want to make people think they arrived in another place.

“We started our process by considering how to realise that experience. To do that we’ve created this translucent feeling, so you’ll be aware of where you are but also isolated from the context.”

MAD are working with acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota – who helped create the Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris and Suntory Hall in Tokyo – to create a world class musical venue.

The hall will be the first permanent base for the China Philharmonic Orchestra and will also host performances from touring musicians from all around the world. The main 1,600-seat auditorium will be laid out in a vineyard style, with the seating surrounding the stage and rising up in rows in the manner of sloping terraces. White sound reflection petals will feature on the ceiling, resembling the segments of a lotus flower. Lighting and visualisations can be projected onto these petals and choreographed to match the musical performances.

The building will also include a professional recording studio, a library, a collection gallery, offices, rehearsal rooms and other auxiliary function spaces.

Construction will begin later this year and is expected to be completed in 2019.

A comprehensive interview with Ma Yansong – in which the rising star talks about studying under Zaha Hadid, being inspired by nature, creating the acclaimed Harbin Opera House and the importance of battling conservatism in the built environment – features in the new issue of CLADmag.

MAD Architects' twisting, theatrical Harbin Opera House opens in China

FEATURE: Interview – Ma Yansong