National Centre for the performing arts -Paul Andrew’s “Eggshell” -from foreignercn.com

1 Apr 2008

According to French architect Paul Andrew, National Centre for the performing arts looks like a huge green park with an oval and silver grand theater encircled by green water. The shell, made of titanium metal and glass together with day and night lights adds radiance and beauty to each other, and has fast-changing colors. The surroundings of the Grand Theater are semi-transparent, golden netted glass walls. People can see the sky inside the building through its dome. Some people describe the complete Grand Theater as “a crystal drop of water”, other people call it a “big egg shell” or “boiled egg”.

The Grand Theater project was approved by the State Council in April, 1998 and formerly put into construction on December 13, 2001. It is completed in September, 2007. It is china’s top arts performance center and a first class art palace.
Covering a total area of 118,900 square meters, the Grand Theater has a total floor space of 149,500 square meters. It is equipped with accessory facilities including halls for opera, music, drama, art exhibitions, as well as an art exchange center, and audio and video store. Opera, dancing and ballet are mainly presented in the opera hall, which can accommodate an audience of 2,416. The Music Hall, which can accommodate 2,017, mainly presents large orchestral work and folk music. Drama and local opera including Peking opera are staged in the drama hall.
At the northern side of the Grand Theater there is an underground parking lot, which can hold almost 1,000 motor vehicles and 1,400 more bicycles. It can be used as an accessory facility for the Grand Theater and as a public facility in the Tian’anmen Square area.
Between Dec 22,2007 and April 6,2008, about 6,000 Chinese and overseas artists will give 180 performances, including operas such as “Othello” and ballets including “Swan Lake” and “Jewels and Le Corsaire.”
Among international performers who will be appearing will be conductors Valery Gergiev and Seiji Ozawa, and sopranos Kathleen Battle and Kiri Te Kanawa. Apart from the Mariinsky Theater of Russia, other famous foreign orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, will also give performances.