West Kowloon Cultural District（WKCDA）
The approx. 41,000 m2 Lyric Theatre Complex is a mixed-use project housing three theatres (the Lyric Theatre, the Medium Theatre and the Studio Theatre), a Large Rehearsal Room which can also be used as an additional performing arts venue, a Resident Company Centre with eight dance and rehearsal studios and administrative facilities, and an extensive programme allocation for Retail, Dining and Entertainment. The Lyric Theatre Complex has been overseen by UNStudio Asia. Headed up by responsible Partner Hannes Pfau, UNStudio Asia consists of two full service offices located in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Whilst the three theatres within the Complex draw their own distinct identities from the types of performing arts to which they cater, their designs follow a unified approach essential to both creating a complementary family of theatres and a coherent building. Each theatre therefore has its own distinct colour which relates to its function. This colour is not only applied in the auditoriums, but also in the correlating foyers, thus also acting as a means of wayfinding.
The Lyric Theatre
As the largest of the three auditoriums, the 1450-seat Lyric Theatre is a principal venue for various forms of dance performance and will also house other preforming arts events including musicals, opera and film premieres. As the most formal of the three theatres, the Lyric Theatre reflects the grandeur and distinction of baroque-era theatres through the use of red and bronze-toned details, while a combination of a cooler grey/brown toned wood adds a contemporary touch.
The Medium Theatre
The 600 seat Medium Theatre is dedicated to theatre and dance. This theatre uses a dark saturated purple, which is contrasted with a walnut interior with metal inlays.
In order to create a more intimate, unified audience, instead of a stacked approach, the upper and lower stall levels of the auditorium are visually united, separated only by a single geometric gesture that makes the upper stall ‘float’.
The Studio Theatre
The 270-seat Studio Theatre is for small-to-medium scale text-based drama productions. A homogenous dark blue-colored interior creates a black-box-like atmosphere.