There are many architectural achievements, in fact so many that it is simply impossible to list even a fraction of them. That’s where passion of interest comes in handy. One that we have developed over the years. It didn’t always go as expected, indeed our passion for theatre buildings is something that took a sudden turn on our visit to China. One that has kept us busy for the past few years in our career of being an architecture. Since 2013 in fact, when we visited the capital city of Beijing we have been investigation several theatre venues which will be covered in future posts, including this one.

The international plainfield has always been the most rewarding. Just add in a colorful bunch of people from different backgrounds, cultures and add in a sense of tradionalism from the country natives. What you often get is a suprising effect of the original, as well as tradition that manages to touch peoples hearts. Yet, take them to new horizons which have are unexplored for the most part. The very recent which we had an honor of visiting in Beijing, was the theatre construction that hosts the fantastic show of golden mask dynasty. Every great story such as this, needs a magical construction to accompany the show. One which preferably has proper funding, so as not to prevent creativity to bloome at it’s fullest. China is an extremely exciting playground for architecture, especially when it comes to brilliant theatre venues as this one, where expressionism and individualism is at a new level. It’s all an odd mix to say the least, because China is far from individualism in it’s core.. yet you have these theatrical constructions that simply bloom with original ideas in peculiar Chinese contects. To understand this fantastic “OCT Theatre” building, at the lively happy valley in beijing, we need to look closer.

The strong relationship that we developed with this round and majestic building, is mostly thanks to the Golden Mask Dynasty Show that was presented to us within it. While we had heard much about the construction and how much money was put into it.. we had little idea about the performance we were about to see. In this ball shaped audience, you surround the stage from a 280degree angle. So that depending on where you are sitting, the show will look different. Now that is a design that is not new in China, but what has seen a new concept is how the stage performance takes that into advantage. Creating scenes that are very up and close to the spectators, and depending on the seat, it takes turn to give that special up and close moment to the viewer.

In a sense, we felt that the environment was like three dimensional. From the entrance, and the more you went inside the theatre building itself.. the more you felt like going deep into a three dimensional field. And don’t get us started on the stage.. which of course was bumped up with the latest equipment and technology money can find. Well that construction really feels like something special to us.. just like China is one of the most important countries to watch out for in terms of international architectural achievement. That’s the way we like it, and the nightlife in Beijing is simply magnificent! Check it out if you are interesting.. and we will cover more theatre and show venues soon!