Harbin Grand Theatre, Performance arts center in Harbin, China

Harbin Grand Theatre is a performing arts centre on Cultural Island, an arts hub by the Songhua River and surrounding wetlands in Harbin, Heilongjiang. The building is clad entirely in white aluminium panels and contains a 1,538-seat main theatre and a 414-seat smaller theatre whose back wall is sound-proof glass, making the natural scene a backdrop for performances.

The theatre was designed by MAD, the firm founded by architect Ma Yansong, and opened as the centrepiece of Cultural Island, an arts hub beside the Songhua River and its wetlands in Harbin's Songbei District. It won the ArchDaily 2016 Building of the Year Award and the WAN Performing Spaces Award 2016.

Harbin has a long connection to European classical music, rooted in the presence of Russian and European settlers in the early 20th century, and the theatre continues that tradition today. Concerts and operas performed here draw audiences from across northeastern China.

The building sits on Cultural Island, which is connected to the city centre by road bridges, so a taxi or private car is the most straightforward way to get there. Arriving before dark gives a clear view of the exterior against the river and the surrounding landscape.

The sweeping white exterior is covered in thousands of individually shaped aluminum panels, each angled differently to catch light in a way that mirrors the texture of wind-blown snow. In winter, when the Songhua River freezes over, the building blends into the surrounding white landscape in a way that makes it look almost like a natural landform.