East Kowloon Cultural Centre

With the rapid expansion of Hong Kong’s theatre landscape, Theatreplan was instrumental in creating a new multi-auditoria venue as part of the ambitious East Kowloon regeneration strategy.

East Kowloon Cultural Centre was intended to become a hub for performance and community events across five different districts. The now completed cultural centre houses five venues and associated support spaces. Theatreplan were responsible for delivering the three major venues: The Hall a 1200-seat multipurpose grand theatre, The Theatre a 550-seat with a thrust stage the only theatre of its type in Hong Kong and the Lab a 250-seat black box theatre, the other venues include a 120-seat music lab and other supporting ancillary culture facilities and serve as a hub for drama; Cantonese opera; dance performance and community events for districts around the old Kai Tak airport area. The venue was designed within a constricted site, situated as it is between two roads.

At an early stage in the project, we undertook research into the history and use of the thrust stage to provide the client with a thorough understanding of this new form of staging for Hong Kong. Working as part of the multi-disciplinary design team, Theatreplan is providing a complete theatre consultancy service across the three major venues, which includes auditorium design, seating layouts, full technical infrastructure design site wide system design and construction supervision.

In collaboration with the Hong Kong Government’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department Theatreplan has also delivered Health & Safety Management training in support of this new venue, and LCSD’s existing venue portfolio.