Zhuhai Jinwan Citizen Art Center stands as one of the most dynamic contemporary creative hubs globally. It is situated in the heart of Aviation New City, a district in Zhuhai’s Jinwan area that boasts 4.78 million square meters of new municipal, cultural, academic, and commercial infrastructure. Designed to accommodate 100,000 residents, Aviation New City is well-connected by the Zhuhai Airport Railway, an extension of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Intercity Railway, linking the city center directly with the airport. Additionally, the newly opened Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge allows travelers from Shenzhen and Hong Kong to reach Zhuhai within an hour.
The Zhuhai Jinwan Citizen Art Center brings together three distinct urban cultural institutions: a performing arts center featuring a 1,200-seat grand theater and a 500-seat retractable multifunctional black box theater; an interactive science center; and an art museum. Each institution offers unique experiences, yet all are united by a cohesive architectural form and structural logic stretching 170 meters from east to west and 270 meters from north to south.
Along a central axis, two larger venues and two smaller venues are symmetrically arranged and connected by a central square that acts as a shared outdoor foyer for all cultural institutions. The glass curtain wall facing the courtyard reveals the distinct character of each venue: the Grand Theater and Art Museum are clad in light-colored materials, while the multifunctional black box theater and science center feature darker tones.
The design draws inspiration from the wedge-shaped formation of migratory birds flying over southern China. Each venue is topped with a grid-shaped steel canopy featuring repeated, symmetrical, and scaled variations, creating a modular system tailored to the functional needs of each building. This approach utilizes self-supporting, self-stabilizing roof modules, optimizing prefabrication, pre-assembly, and modular construction methods.
The distinctive roof structure links the different venues into a cohesive mesh shell network, enclosing the four central wings. Interconnected bridges and open spaces form a multi-level public square at the core of the center, offering views into interior spaces as well as the surrounding cafes, restaurants, and educational facilities. The design enhances intuitive navigation and natural lighting throughout public areas, fostering connectivity and creating a vibrant civic space for residents to enjoy throughout the day.
Inside the grand theater, the ceiling structure extends the design of the central external roof canopy, with carefully optimized positioning and angles to serve as an effective sound reflector. The acoustic design meets the highest standards, suitable for local, national, and international performances, ensuring exceptional sound quality throughout the venue.
The art museum’s roof features a distinctive V-shaped geometric form that defines the main atrium, allowing natural light to flood the space while creating a continuous vertical surface ideal for displaying artworks. Behind vertical partitions lie the gallery spaces, storage, and administrative areas, seamlessly integrating the building with the exhibition experience. A continuous white “ribbon” architecture guides visitors through the museum’s vertical circulation and exhibition path, creating a unique spatial journey.
The Science Center’s interior echoes the geometric form of its central roof, using innovative interactive exhibits to spark curiosity and encourage scientific learning. The center’s lecture hall is designed to host public scientific experiments and demonstrations, fostering engagement and discovery.
The podium of the Zhuhai Jinwan Citizen Art Center is set on a small island in Zhongxin Lake. Pedestrian ramps and tunnels invite visitors to cross the lake and access the central public square, from which various venues are reachable via pedestrian overpasses. A glass facade beneath the modular roof canopy offers transparency, welcoming the local community into the square, shaded by lakeside wooden boardwalks and horizontal roof structures. On the west side, an outdoor open-air theater provides space for performances and events.
The center consists of five structurally independent concrete buildings, each topped with its own self-supporting external steel canopy. These freely shaped steel roofs are supported by just 22 columns, spanning 270 by 170 meters. Their symmetrical geometric design enables modular repetition, allowing off-site manufacturing and assembly using only two types of columns.
The center’s landscape and lake design are integral to Zhuhai’s “Sponge City” initiative, which aims to naturally absorb, store, and reuse at least 70% of urban rainwater. The use of aquatic plants and animals helps filter pollutants naturally. Additionally, humidity and soil moisture sensors in the irrigation system help control and reduce water consumption.
Located in a subtropical coastal climate, the building’s envelope features double-layer insulated glass for optimal thermal performance, protected by a grid-shaped roof ceiling. This roof utilizes perforated aluminum panels as external sunshades, with variable perforation sizes to control sunlight exposure based on orientation and solar gain needs. At night, the rooftop canopy softly diffuses light, creating a glowing presence for the center.
The center is equipped with an intelligent energy consumption and indoor air quality monitoring system, which automatically adjusts the indoor environment to maximize comfort and energy efficiency. Waste heat recovery systems fulfill hot water demands through water-saving equipment integrated into the center’s water circulation system. The design complies with China’s highest green building standards, prioritizing recycled materials such as steel and aggregates in its structural components.
Project Drawings
△ Basement Floor Plan
△ Basement Second Floor Plan
△ First Floor Plan
△ Second Floor Plan
△ Third Floor Plan
△ Fourth Floor Plan
△ Roof Plan
△ Section Diagram
△ Section Diagram
△ Elevation Drawing
△ Elevation Drawing
Project Information
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Area: 100,000 m²
Project Year: 2023
Photographers: AT OPTOGRAM STUDIO, Virgile Simon Bertrand, Zhang Hao, Lv Yipeng
Design Presidents: Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher
Project Directors: Satoshi Ohashi, Charles Walker
Senior Project Managers: Lydia Kim, Yang Jingwen
Project Architects: Mei Ling Lin, Aurora Santana (SD)
Project Leaders: Mei Ling Lin, Elena Scriperliti
Core Team: Armando Bussey, Reza Karimi, Julian Lin
Site Team: Qi Cao, Kai Jiu Tsao, Mei Ling Lin, Juan Liu, Yuling Ma, Feifei Fan
Project Team: Armando Bussey, Marius Cernica, Grace Chung, Nelli Denisova, Xuexin Duan, Kaloyan Erevinov, Nassim Eshaghi, Kate Hunter, Yang Jingwen, Reza Karimi, Ben Kikkawa, Lydia Kim, Julian Lin, Mei-Ling Lin, Valeria Mazzilli, Sareh Mirseyed Nazari, Massimo Napoleoni, Satoshi Ohashi, Yevgeniya Pozigun, Qi Cao, Qiuyu Zhao, Aurora Santana, Hannes Schafelner, Michael Sims, Patrik Schumacher, Sharan Sundar, Maria Touloupou, Chao Wei, Charles Walker, Kai-Jui Tsao, Yuling Ma, Feifei Fan
Competition Team: Armando Bussey, Clara Martins, Cristiano Ceccato, Charles Walker, Ed Gaskin, Filippo Nassetti, Jinqi Huang, Juan Liu, Lydia Kim, Julian Lin, Satoshi Ohashi, Paulo Flores, Harry Spraiter, Patrick Schumacher, Houzhe Xu, Simon Yu
Local Design Institute: Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., South China Design Center
Structural Consultant: Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., South China Design Center
Green Building Consultant: Guangdong Zhuojun Green Building Technology Co., Ltd
BIM Consultant: Beijing Digital Yingguo Information Technology Co., Ltd
Curtain Wall Consultant: Zhuhai Honghai Curtain Wall Co., Ltd
Floodlight Design: Shenzhen Global Lighting Technology Co., Ltd
Landscape Consultant: South China Design Center of Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co., Ltd
Stage Craft Consultant: Shanghai Deji Engineering Technology Co., Ltd
Logo Consultant: Shenzhen Phantom Visual Advertising Company
Fire Consultant: South China Design Center of Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd
Audio and Video Consultant: China Radio and Television Broadcasting, Film and Television Design and Research Institute
Acoustic Consultant: East China Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd
Fine Decoration Consultant: Shenzhen Zhongfutai Cultural Architecture Construction Co., Ltd
Landscape Contractor: Zhuhai Wuyue Landscape Engineering Co., Ltd
Indoor Contractor: Shenzhen Weiye Decoration Group Co., Ltd
General Contractor: MCC Urban Investment Holding Co., Ltd
Location: Zhuhai, China
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