studio dali’s 'heilongtan dome music hall' brings a canopy of light and sound to rural china

Heilongtan Dome Music Hall as Community Threshold

At the entrance to an agricultural community in Chengdu, China, the quiet yet monumental Heilongtan Dome Music Hall rises from the semi-slope of the landscape. The project by Studio Dali might not shout for attention, but it sings — softly, openly, and with the calm resolve of a place that was always meant to be there. Wrapped in trees, light, and acoustics, this timber-framed structure, with its sweeping rooftops, evokes the gathering space under a village banyan tree, where stories, music, and memories naturally take root.

Situated in Heilongtan, Renshou County, the Heilongtan Dome Music Hall greets visitors and residents alike at the threshold of the development. Its location — set against a gentle hillside and framed by young trees — blends the domestic with the bucolic, and the designed with the natural. Here, the building doesn’t just announce arrival; it quietly sets the tone, embracing the surrounding lake, the hillside, and the daily rhythms of a semi-rural life.

images © Arch-Exist

A Banyan Tree Reimagined in Architecture

The Heilongtan Dome Music Hall draws conceptual strength from the banyan tree, a familiar icon at the edges of many Chinese villages. Rather than mimic the form literally, the team at Studio Dali abstracts its essence — protection, openness, rootedness — into a semi-outdoor performance space. It’s a pavilion for concerts and classes, yes, but also for casual chats, daydreaming, and solitude. A spiritual anchor to the community, its atmosphere is as important as its program.

At the heart of the project lies a gently inward-sloping wooden dome, designed like an inverted tree canopy. Light filters in through over a dozen skylights, with three tallow trees piercing the roof itself — an architectural moment that marries landscape and structure. This openness to growth, literally and symbolically, allows the music hall to remain in continuous dialogue with its environment.

the Heilongtan Dome Music Hall is located in a rural community in Chengdu, china

Columns That Root and Float

Inside the Heilongtan Dome Music Hall, Studio Dali creates a fluid space defined by a sloping floor that points toward the lake. This topography forms curved steps that alternate between amphitheater seating and quiet alcoves. Whether hosting a string quartet or a lone meditator, the dome adapts — its timber structure shaping not just physical space but also a gentle acoustic field, tuned for both expression and introspection.

Supporting the dome are twenty-four slender steel columns, their polished surfaces catching the light like dew-draped vines. With diameters between 60 and 100 millimeters, they mimic the scale of nearby tree trunks. Some touch down lightly, while others extend directly from the structure to the earth — column bases subtly filled with gravel, encouraging drainage and giving the impression they’ve grown there.

Studio Dali is inspired by village Banyan trees, symbolizing gathering memory and shelter

Technically, the Heilongtan Dome Music Hall achieves a lightness that belies its presence. The steel-wood hybrid dome uses tightly spaced wooden beams intersecting at 60 degrees, their dimensions reduced to preserve an airy feel. Even the insulation system is hidden within the dome’s curvature, eliminating bulk and emphasizing the continuity between architecture and sky.

The Heilongtan Dome Music Hall is a space of constant attunement — to weather, to people, to the shifting balance between performance and pause. Hidden amid woods and water, it doesn’t frame nature as a backdrop, but as a co-author. Skylights adjust the interior’s brightness with the time of day. Openings offer framed glimpses of landscape. Every decision suggests reciprocity.

Though anchored in rural tradition, the project resists nostalgia. It is at once civic and intimate — a concert hall without walls, a living room without limits. It flexes between solo contemplation and collective gathering, not through grand gestures but through patient, careful detailing that prioritizes experience over iconography.

a semi-open wooden dome hosts concerts, performances, classes, and daily community use

three skylights allow trees to grow through the roof

light enters through more than a dozen skylights to creatie a bright, layered interior

project info:

name: Heilongtan Dome Music Hall

architect: Studio Dali

location: Chengdu, China

area: 345 square meters
completion: 2024
photography: © Arch-Exist

lead architects: Ye Li

design team: Ye Li, Zeng Xianming, Lan Lan
engineering: LuAnLu Partner Structure Consulting
category: Installations & Structures
clients: China Railway Sichuan Ecological City Investment Co., Ltd.