East Kowloon Cultural Centre

The completed cultural centre brings together five performance venues and a range of supporting cultural facilities. Theatreplan provided theatre consultancy across the three principal venues: the 1,200-seat Grand Theatre, the 550-seat Medium Theatre, featuring Hong Kong's only thrust stage of its kind, and the 250-seat Black Box Theatre. The wider development also includes a 120-seat Music Lab.

Located on a constrained site between two roads in the former Kai Tak airport area, the centre has become a hub for drama, Cantonese opera, dance, community events and other cultural activity.

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 multidisciplinary design team, we provided a comprehensive theatre consultancy service across the three principal venues, including auditorium design, seating layouts, technical infrastructure, site-wide systems design and construction supervision.

In collaboration with the Hong Kong Government’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), Theatreplan also delivered Health & Safety Management training to support the new venue and LCSD’s wider venue portfolio.