Exterior view of a building volume with translucent façade cladding, a wide staircase and a sheltered entrance zone.

Hunan Broadcasting System Program Centre

Exterior view of a building with a large yellow façade, a vertical steel column and adjacent high‑rise structures.

Exterior view of an elongated building block with a horizontal façade structure, recessed lower volume and tree canopies in the foreground.

Public Production Landscape

Television production today is a complex, precisely organised process. At the same time, there is a growing demand for proximity, transparency, and direct audience engagement. The Hunan Broadcasting System Program Centre Changsha translates these requirements into architecture. Rather than an enclosed production facility, it is conceived as an openly accessible media landscape that connects work, the public, and experience. Studios, workspaces, and visitor zones interlock, making programming and production spatially tangible.

At a Glance

Open studio structure as a publicly accessible production landscape

Central media axis as the backbone for studios, visitor areas, and public spaces

Dialogue between productionand audience through visible processes and spatial proximity

A New Typology of TV Production Facility

The new building is located in the north of Changsha, set between Movie City and the Aquarium, on a steeply sloping site with a height difference of around 25 metres. Conventional, introverted studio typologies fall short in this context. Instead, the design follows an open structure organised along a central axis, translating the site into a permeable fabric of production, work and public areas.

The Media Axis as Spatial Backbone

The central element is a linear media axis running from west to east across the site. Along this backbone, studios of various sizes, visitor areas, galleries, and squares are arranged. The axis fulfils several functions simultaneously: circulation, orientation, place to linger, and stage for encounters. It becomes the most frequented public area of the campus and connects the individual uses into a coherent building ensemble.

Making Production Visible

A distinctive element is the central office area positioned above the largest studio. The ring-shaped volume hovers above the central square and offers staff a 360-degree view across the site. At the same time, the work inside becomes legible from the outside. Visitors can gain insights into production processes without disturbing them. Here, architecture deliberately creates proximity and opens up a dialogue between the public and media production.

Between City, Landscape and Public Realm

The Program Centre is not conceived as a closed campus, but as a public place. Squares, semi-open studios, and visitor routes are integral parts of the concept. The architecture responds to its surroundings and creates spaces for staying that extend beyond pure production operations. The result is a cultural platform that understands television as part of public life and leaves a lasting impact on the site.

Project Profile

Project: Hunan Broadcasting System Program Centre
Location: Changsha
Client: Hunan TV
GFA: 227.733 m²
Services: Architecture, master planning
Completion: 2022
Uses: TV studios, office and administrative areas, visitor and exhibition spaces

Low‑angle exterior view of the broadcasting building with a prominent cantilevered roof and continuous glazing.

Night‑time exterior view of a building block featuring a translucent façade skin and a broad entrance staircase.

Interior view of a foyer featuring large cubic ceiling lights, metallic columns and an open counter area.

Evening exterior view of a covered circulation zone with continuous ceiling panels, reflective façades and vertical structural columns.

Exterior view of a building complex with two cantilevered volumes, glazed connecting bridges and a prominent central void.

Interior view of a spacious foyer with translucent wall surfaces, a linear ceiling grid and a central void.