PES Architects used custom-developed ceramic tiles and louvres to create the curving lines of the Strait Culture and Art Centre in Fuzhou, China.
The Helsinki- and Shanghai-based studio arranged the five swooping buildings that make up the centre to unfurl like the overlapping petals of a jasmine flower ? the symbol of Fuzhou.

Opened on 10 October 2018, the 153,000-square-metre arts complex contains a 1,600-seat opera house, 1,000-seat concert hall, a theatre that seats 700, an art exhibition hall, and a cinema.
Each of these functions is housed in a separate "petal", which fan out from a connecting concourse and roof terrace, accessed via public gardens and a plaza on the waterfront of the Minjiang River. An underground promenade connects the centre to a metro station.
PES Architects' primary materials for the project were steel, concrete, bamboo and a custom-developed ceramic, the latter of which was chosen for its historic connections to Fuzhou.
During the Ming Dynasty the city flourished as the overland Silk Road trading route waned in popularity next to the safer and more profitable maritime version. Located on China's southeastern coast, Fuzhou became a gateway to the Maritime Silk Road and its trade in prized porcelain.

Chinese white-coloured ceramic tiles and louvres were used to clad the exterior of all of the buildings, underlining the jasmine blossom aesthetic.
The louvres' angles and cascading gaps left in the facade give the buildings a delicate, ...