With a gross area of 77, 252 square meter, the Wuxi Grand Theatre is located on a man-made peninsula of Wu-Li Lake, in the south of Wuxi centre city. The unique design of the building has enabled the facility to evolves as the newest landmark building in the Wuxi area.
The theatre accommodates a 1680-seat Grand Theatre and a 690-seat Comprehensive Performance Hall. The building has eight leaves, or wings converging on a terraced stone plinth, which creates an impression of butterfly descending onto the shore.
The wings, in addition to giving a unique sculptural character to the theatre, also protects the building from the solar glare. The underside of the wing-like roof has aluminium panels integrated with thousands of LED lights that can change colours as per the requirements of the performances.
The Main Opera Auditorium features more than 15, 000 solid bamboo blocks, which have been individually shaped as per the acoustic needs and design requirements of the place. The designer has used about 20,000 specially designed glass bricks to cover the curved wall of the opera auditorium in the lakeside lobby.
The building has a stone plinth, from which the main entrance and public spaces rises. On the top of plinth, the two stone auditoriums are housed, which are interlinked by means of a glazed, sunlit entrance lobby that offers the views of the water body. The lobby features a forest of 50, nine-metre light columns, which support the roof. The building also has two public lakeside foyers and the terraces connected to them.
The Wuxi Grand Theatre also has a second public entrance, which is positioned at the lower lakeside level. The space below the plinth is used as buffer space for the technical and service facilities, and parking areas.
