CONTENTS

Capital Talk

	“Meet in Beijing” for daily open-air and live performances
	Tiananmen theater under way
	Top photographers shoot city
	Heineken Beat show has genuinely exciting line-up
	Mayor meets French

Life&Times

Out&About

	Shunyi District in focus
	Flowers across the capital

City Beat

What’s Hot
	From wireless thingies on models to little model people on wires
Shopping
	Shopping: Spring shoes, shirts and sports duds
	Beijing in My Focus: Win a brilliant BTM bag with your brilliant snap
Wining&Dining:
	Fresh air and fresher fish
Hotel Bulletin Board:
	Highlights of hotels” promotions in May
House&Home:
	Villas look comfortable at Capital Paradise
What’s On:
	Where to go and what to do

Work Begins on Theater

The 3.54 billion yuan (US $426 million) Chinese National Grand Theater has begun construction west of the Great Hall of People at Tiananmen Square. The 120,000-square-meter, three-year project is the design of French architect Paul Andreu.

“Andreu’s big idea is to make the area surrounding Tiananmen Square into a green city garden. If his idea with its surrounding buildings. But the Western judges think the theater should be a product of the time, and should make a breakthrough into the future,” said Zhou.

Adjustments to the entrance and roof designs were made after a Chinese investigation group’s 10-day research trip to France in March.

The theater blueprint, 50,000 square meters smaller than the Great Hall of the People, includes an art gallery, performing arts research center, art shop and an underground parking lot.

Paul Andreu: fast facts

1938 - born in Canderan, France.

1961 - graduated from Ecole Polytechnique

1963 - graduated from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees

1968 - graduated from Ecole des Beaux-Arts

Paul Andreu’s work includes the Charles De Gaulle Airport, Nice Airport, Jakarta Airport, Shanghai International Airport, Kumhama Golf Resort, Japan, the French terminal of the England-France Chunnel.

Theater design: fast facts

The theater curves, emerging like an island at the center of a lake. Its exterior is glass and gray titanium. The surface colors change with the hour of the day and night as light moves over its surface and plays on its countless facets.

The building begins below ground. At the lowest level is an opera house. Situated immediately above are car parks and the technical support facilities. Below the surface of the lake and the gardens are access and service roads, an underpass for pedestrians and entrance lobbies. Above ground, three distinct buildings “ the opera house, concert hall and theater “ are linked by interior streets and overpasses.