Beijing Performing Arts Centre / Schmidt Hammer Lassen + Perkins&Will

China has opened a new performing arts complex in Tongzhou, a historic port on the Grand Canal and the eastern gateway to Beijing. Designed by Perkins&Will’s and Schmidt Hammer Lassen’s combined Shanghai studio with a landscape by SLA, the Beijing Performing Arts Centre anchors Tongzhou’s recently designated cultural district, a collection of major civic projects that also includes a museum, a library, and extensive parklands. Consisting of three world-class venues—an opera house, a theater, and a concert hall—as well as a multipurpose hall and an outdoor stage, the Beijing Performing Arts Centre will host hundreds of performances each year—everything from traditional Chinese and Western operas to orchestral performances, stage dramas, and dances.