According to Le Figaro citing a news source from École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paul Andreu, designer of China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, passed away on October 11^th, 2018, at the age of 80. This outstanding French engineer and designer has left 60 brilliant artworks with his own unique and distinguished style around the globe.


On July 10^th, 1938, Paul Andreu was born in Caudéran near Bordeaux, France. He graduated from Ecole des Beaux-Arts Paris in 1968. As one of the most prestigious architects in our contemporary era, he embarked on a remarkable career in 1967. At the age of 29, he designed Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport. Within 40 years from then on, he designed a number of large airports worldwide, including Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia, Cairo International Airport in Egypt, Brunei International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China, etc.

For the Chinese, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is one of the most well-known design works created by Paul Andreu.


On September 25^th, 2007, at the core of Chang’an Street, China's most important trunk road, the NCPA, which was planned for nearly half a century and had undergone construction process for nearly six years, made its grand debut and held the spotlight in Beijing, China and even the whole world. It also helped Paul Andreu rise to stardom, an architect who stood out from the fierce competition involved with famous architects who submitted 69 bidding plans from 36 design institutions in 10 countries. He once again became a focus of attention from the global architectural, as well as literary and art circles. 


Following the concept of “A Theatre in the City and A City in the Theatre,” Paul Andreu designed the NCPA, which is crowned as “Pearl on the Water”. Looking out from Chang’an Street, the NCPA towers on the clear ripples. Its transparent glasses seem like the raised curtain. Wonderful theatrical performances are staged one by one. “A Theatre in the City” is hence named after.


Through the curtain-like glasses, people can overlook the endless stream of vehicles on Chang’an Street and the splendid Forbidden City, which rolls out the scroll of “A City in the Theatre.” The NCPA is such a palace of art that inhabits in the city and serves the people of the city.

The NCPA, which is located on the west side of Tian’anmen Square, covers floor area of 118,900 square meters and total construction area of about 220,000 square meters. The outer main body is a steel structure shell in semi-ellipsoidal shape. The shell steel structure weighs 6,475 tons.East-west long axis spans over 212.2 meters. It is the world’s largest dome building, making a harmonious echo with an artificial lake outside the shell.

After completion of the NCPA, Andreu stood outside, stared at this huge building evolving from the drawing to the real existence, and looked so excited. In the late 1990s, he was lack of his inspirations when bidding for the NCPA architectural scheme. Until he saw a baobab tree in a self-driving tour for the southern part of France, he paid attention to its big oval seed, and that had hatched this new design proposal, which was submitted in the third round of bidding.

At last, this “seed”, sown by Paul Andreu, took root and convinced the stringent bidding juries. “I want to make some breakthroughs in the Chinese tradition. The NCPA should be like a seed that can nurture life and eventually become a cradle of dreams. Moreover, it will emerge as fertile art soil for every person who walks into the theatre”. Paul Andreu affectionately described the masterpiece. “The NCPA is committed to expressing inner vitality, and it is an internal vitality implied in external silence. People can also compare it to an ‘egg shell’, which always gives birth to life. There are always wonders from this shell. This is the soul of my design—shell, life and openness.”



Andreu was also a frequent visitor to the NCPA. Every time he came to China, even if his schedule was tight and work was busy, he found time to attend a performance here. When this prestigious designer appeared in the crowd, no one knew who he was, and went unnoticed. But no one else could be immersed into the same happiness as Paul Andreu. He said, “Among many architectural works designed by myself throughout my lifetime, the NCPA ranks first in my heart!”

Now Paul Andreu has passed away. We hereby express our sad memories and grief to this eternal friend of the NCPA. Thank you, Paul Andreu. The “Pearl on the Water”, originally masterminded by you, will be bound to shine more brightly.