Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai yesterday started work on the performance center for World Expo 2010.

Calling it an unique construction, Vice Mayor Yang Dinghua said the pavilion "will become the city's new landmark of culture and entertainment."

Located in the southeast of the Expo site, the Shanghai World Expo Performing Arts Center will resemble a flying saucer on eastern bank of the Huangpu River.

It will have a floor area of 80,000 square meters - 10,000 square meters bigger than the Shanghai Grand Theater - and hold audiences of up to 18,000.

The center, when completed by the end of 2009, will become the city's first circular performance facility whose interior structure is reconfigurable in three dimensions, according to designers.

The size and the condition of the central stage can be adjusted to form different shapes for different purposes, from solo concerts to ice shows.

The exterior walls of the center will have huge screens to broadcast the performances inside for visitors outside.

There will also be venues for different forms of performance or entertainment, including concerts, theater, music clubs, movie clubs, bars, restaurants and even games rooms.

Some of its functions, such as the bars and clubs, will operate around the clock.

The center was designed by Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group and its construction will cost 1.1 billion yuan (US$148.6 million), excluding the cost of land, city officials said.

Wang Xiao'an, a chief architect with the group, said: "The center is designed to merge culture with high-tech, present with future, China with the world."

The Performance Center is one of the four major permanent pavilions on the 5.28-square-kilometer Expo site. Its design was selected among 27 submissions from around world.

The other three projects - the China Pavilion, the Theme Pavilion, and the Expo Center - have already started construction.