steven chilton architects has completed the wuxi taihu show theatre, a steel structure designed to look like a bamboo forest in china. located in wuxi, a city near shanghai in eastern china, the 2000 seat theatre has been designed to house a permanent water show by franco dragone.

images © kris provoost
 
 
steven chilton architects were inspired by the sea of bamboo park in yixing, the largest bamboo forest in china. the building?s appearance is composed of three primary elements, the columns, the shade canopy and the building envelope.

 
 
representing an abstract impression of a bamboo forest, the slender white columns are positioned around the perimeter of the building in such a way as to provide a screen between the building façade and surrounding landscape. the ?bamboo? columns clear around the various entrances to help frame the accesses into the building.
 
 
the shade canopy wraps around the perimeter of the building at roof level. conceptually, it represents the canopy of leaves that exist at the top of a bamboo forest. the canopy is made up of various triangular bays containing rows of gold anodised aluminium louvres.

 
 
each bay is orientated randomly to create an organic quality to the structure and light and shade patterns that fall across the building envelope through the day. each bay of louvres is also set at different angles to heighten the sense of variation when viewed from different angles.

 
 
structurally, each bay of louvres is sup...