Designed by the London-based studio Steven Chilton Architects (SCA), Sunac Guangzhou Grand Theatre is located in the Huadu district of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. The concept for the theater is inspired by traditional silk embroidery, the illustrations of artist Zhang Hongfei, and tattoo art. The theater’s cladding is composed of thousands of perforated aluminum panels resembling the folds of silk cloth, and inside, the circular auditorium has capacity for 2,000 spectators.

The red undulations incorporate darker patterns along with the golden drawings influenced by the myth of the Phoenix or ‘Fenghuang’ and other birds. The surface of the cladding uses illustrations created by artist Zhang Hongfei, whose hand drawings were digitized and interpreted by the architects, combining a compositional style inspired in tattoo aesthetics and other figures from local tradition.