Three buildings by the Grand Canal at the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center coexist harmoniously with nature, showing a bright future. The Beijing Art Center, the "Cultural Granary", the Beijing Grand Canal Museum, the "Canal's Boat", and the Beijing Urban Library, the "Forest Book Garden", are new cultural landmarks known as the "three major buildings of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center". After four years of construction, they were completed at the end of September.

Interior of Beijing Art Center Opera House

The overall design of the Beijing Art Center is inspired by the ancient grain silos on the banks of the water transport wharf. The building's outer facade, which consists of 4,134 folded aluminum panels, looks like a slowly opening stage curtain.

The Beijing Art Center includes an opera hall, a concert hall, a drama hall, a multi-function hall and an outdoor theater, with a total seating capacity of approximately 5,750.

The Beijing Grand Canal Museum, which stands opposite the Opera House, consists of an Audience Sharing Hall and a Main Building.

The roof of the Beijing Grand Canal Museum's Audience Sharing Hall (left) is built like a "boat", and the roof of the Main Building (right) takes the shape of a "sail", creating a scene similar to that of a canal barge dock.

The interior design concept of the Grand Canal Museum is derived from the three elements of the ancient canal landscape: boat, sail and water.

The ceilings of the Beijing Urban Library are shaped like stacking ginkgo tree leaves, and the 144 columns in the library look like ginkgo tree trunks.

It is expected that by the end of this year, the three major buildings will be available to the public.

(Source: Beijing Daily)