Harbin Opera House Case Study

- China
Structural Features

• Location : Harbin, China

• Architect : MAD Architects

• Area : 850,000 sq. Ft

• The Harbin Opera House by MAD Architects on the banks of

river Songhua, surrounded by the wetlands on the outskirts of the
city of Harbin in China is a cultural island flaunting its white
fluid structures across the surrounding landscape.

• The enormous island of 444 acres consists of performance art

theatres, overlooking the rapidly urbanizing city of Harbin with
its tall skyscrapers.
Site Plan

• International Airport : 53.5 km

• Expressway : 37.7 km
• Commuter Bus : 14.7 km
• Police Station : 8 km
• Hospital : 16.6 km
 Structural Features

• Visitors to the project not only can go inside it, but they can also climb it.
A long set of granite steps run up the building’s great curving roof,
offering spectacular views of the city’s skyline and the Songhua River.
• In a nod to trek up China’s sacred mountains, as immortalized in
traditional poems and paintings, the walkway snakes up the building,
culminating in a rooftop landing. 
• From inside, the opera house feels like a snow cave, with passages of
white curved concrete walls and ceilings.
• Faceted glass skylights, built with a customized system to melt actual
snow and direct it into drains, flood the grand lobby with sunlight,
precious in China’s northern regions.
• Polished marble floors equipped with radiant heating make the space
comfortable in the winter, when temperatures can drop to 37 degrees
below zero Fahrenheit. 
 Materials Used

• Precast Concrete-
• Working in tandem with the wooden shell, multiple curved concrete walls
and ceilings give the Harbin Opera House definition.
• The white walls are sculpted with openings that allow in light among the
building’s complex structural system. 
• The concrete walls are exclusive to the lobby and public areas outside the
main theater spaces, and they create an atmosphere that’s both open and
filled with light.

• Interior Marble Flooring-

• These polished surfaces are integrated with radiant heating to combat the
city’s extreme winter temperatures and make the space more comfortable.
• The durable flooring shifts from its stark white base as it transitions to
stairways and steps.
 Materials Used

• Wood Shell Interior-

• Clad with bent narrow planks of Manchurian ash.
• Inside, the large theater has an orchestra pit and elevated stage with more of
the curved wood façade that wraps around the theater’s walls and ceilings,
as well as the box seats and balconies. 
• The material was chosen to emulate a wooden block that has been eroded
away, and the design integrates with the theater systems to create world-
class acoustics.

• Metal Roof Cladding-

• MAD worked with engineers at the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design
to develop the steel skeleton supporting the building’s sweeping roofscape.
•  Visible from the ground, the rooftop terrace invites exploration and opens
to surrounding views of the Songhua river and the city skyline.
• The exterior cladding was manufactured by Shenyang Yuanda as a series of
smooth white aluminum panels that evoke a “poetry of edge and surface,
softness and sharpness.”

Warm Interiors of a Music Instrument - The organic exterior of the Harbin Opera House
encompasses warm wood-clad interiors of the theatres with seats arranged in pockets overlooking the stage
and equipped with acoustical ingenuity. The insides of the theatres. The interiors of the theatres are designed
to evoke the warmth of the inside of a musical instrument, says Ma Yansong. The acoustics are designed in
such a way as to accommodate both classical and contemporary music.
Light Material Palette - The warm spacious lobby of the theatre complex in the Harbin Opera House is
enclosed by curved walls made of white concrete and the entire flooring is clad in marble, the white palette
seamlessly transitioning to the Manchurian Ash wood-clad sculptural staircases and balconies that lead up to the
theatres. 
Pristine Glass - A part of the roof of the fresh white lobby is composed of a lightweight diagrid structure
that supports a glass curtain wall. Numerous transparent pyramids sit in the framework of the curtain wall. It
is equipped with a customized system that melts the snow and it, in turn, gets directed to integrated
drains. The roof structure has contrasting elements of smooth white aluminum plates that look like
overlapping shells and skewered glass curtain walls.
Concept
Sketch
2nd Floor 1st Floor Top View
 Section 1

Section 3

Section 2