The Songshan Lake Exhibition and Performance Centre has opened in Dongguan, adding a new cultural venue to the city’s Songshan Lake waterfront as development continues across the wider Yuehe Lake masterplan.
Designed by ZHA (earlier, Zaha Hadid Architects), the centre is located in the Greater Bay Area in southern China’s Pearl River estuary. It is intended to serve as a venue for exhibitions, performances, conferences, and community events, while forming part of a broader mixed-use waterfront district.
New cultural venue for Songshan Lake waterfront
The venue has been designed to accommodate a wide range of activities, from large-scale performances and exhibitions to industry forums and community events.
It features a 1,200-seat Grand Theatre, an exhibition hall, and a 400-seat multifunction hall designed for smaller productions and children’s theatre.
Landscaped public spaces connect the building with surrounding plazas, terraces, and the lakeside promenade.
Design draws on regional cultural references
ZHA’s architectural concept references Cantonese Opera, which has historic roots in the region. The building’s composition was informed by the flowing forms of traditional performance costumes, including the distinctive silk “water sleeves” used by performers to convey movement and expression.
Elements of Lingnan architecture also influenced the design. Extended roof overhangs, inspired by the upturned eaves common in the region’s traditional buildings, provide shelter to external public areas while allowing natural light into the interior spaces.
The design connects indoor and outdoor areas, linking performance and exhibition facilities with the surrounding public realm.
Acoustic engineering and sustainability measures
Within the Grand Theatre, the walls and ceiling incorporate approximately 100,000 slender spines of varying lengths, densities, and tones. These elements were designed to improve sound diffusion, control reverberation, and reduce standing soundwaves throughout the auditorium.
The project also incorporates a series of environmental measures. Prefabricated ultra-high-performance concrete cladding was cast using reusable moulds, a construction approach intended to reduce waste, shorten construction time, and lower associated carbon emissions while extending the building’s operational lifespan.
Additional features include rooftop photovoltaic arrays, rainwater harvesting systems, permeable landscape surfaces, and replanted wetlands. Together, these measures support on-site renewable energy generation, reduced water consumption, flood mitigation, and local biodiversity enhancement.
While ZHA served as design architect for the project, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD) provided local architectural, structural, MEP, interior, and landscape design services. RFR Shanghai led façade engineering.
Other contributors included Ecadi for acoustics, MVA for transport planning, and PCT as theatre consultant during the schematic design stage.
