Nansha Youth Palace keen to meet visitors

A “youth palace” in Guangzhou’s Nansha district is expected to welcome its first group of visitors this month after an acceptance inspection.

The construction has six stories - five above the ground and one below - covering a land of 30,036 square meters. The overall shape is designed to look like a starfish, with “A” to “E”, the five “feet”, serving as five different functional areas.

The Nansha Youth Palace looks like a starfish from above, highlighting the local marine culture. [Photo/gznsnews.com.cn]

The north foot, numbered “A”, is mainly used for theatergoing and learning martial arts; the northwest one, “B”, is equipped with calligraphy and art classrooms; the northeast, “C”, is suitable for vocal music amateurs; the southwest, “D”, is accessible to those attending lectures and doing model tests; the southeast, “E”, has a library and dancing rooms.

Every sector is sound-proofed and linked to the others by exhibiting halls.

The outer wall of the building is decorated with a layer of perforated composite board presenting a pattern inspired by the ebb tide of the sea. It will keep off the hot sun but draw in natural light through the holes.

When night falls, the interior light will glimmer through the holes reflecting the starlight above.

The interior look of the Starry Sky Theater [Photo/gznsnews.com.cn]

The three-story Starry Sky (Xingkong) Theater is the largest comprehensive theater here for children. It can accommodate an audience of 1,000.

There is an orchestra lift with self-folding seats on it. When the lift is parallel to the stage, it can serve as a performance area, and the seats can be hidden in the store space underneath. When the lift is parallel to the ground of the auditorium, it can be used for audience seating.

The youth palace has a total of 17 systems to safeguard teenagers which include an uninterrupted power supply, intruder alarm, video surveillance and electronic guard tour systems.