Stunning West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre Pops Up in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year

People celebrated <a href="http://inhabitat.com/5-ways-to-celebrate-chinese-new-year-with-feng-shui/">Chinese New Year</a> around the world this past weekend - but Hong Kong's West Kowloon district really pulled out the stops by unveiling a massive pop-up theatre made almost entirely from <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/bamboo/">bamboo</a>! <a href="http://www.bambootheatre.wkcda.hk/en/multimedia/photo/">The West Kowloon Theatre</a> is the brainchild of <a href="http://cl3.com/">CL3 architect William Lim</a>, who took his inspiration from traditional theatres of the 1950s. The theatre will play host to <a href="http://www.bambootheatre.wkcda.hk/en/event_info/schedule/">a series of star-studded Cantonese opera shows</a> throughout the month.

The pop-up bamboo <a href="http://www.bambootheatre.wkcda.hk/en/multimedia/photo/">West Kowloon Theatre</a> will feature a series of events including Cantonese opera performances by young talents, Chinese dance by the Hong Kong Dance Company and contemporary music concerts.

To give the structure a traditional feel, Lim stretched orange nylon sheets over the tiered roof to imitate <a href="http://inhabitat.com/beijing-infrastructure-crippled-by-worst-flooding-in-60-years/beijing-flooding/">the ancient palaces of Beijing's Forbidden City</a>.

The theatre also has colorful fabric signs mounted on bamboo scaffolding which face out onto the street.

The bamboo building is decorated with red and gold lanterns and flags - colors which are considered lucky in Hong Kong and China.

Over the next three weeks, the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre&nbsp;will occupy the site earmarked for the new <a href="http://www.wkcda.hk/en/architectural_competition/xiqucentre/">Xiqu Chinese Opera Centre</a>.

The new <a href="http://www.wkcda.hk/en/architectural_competition/xiqucentre/">Xiqu Chinese Opera Centre</a> is currently being designed by Vancouver firm <a href="http://www.bingthomarchitects.com/" target="_blank">Bing Thom Architects</a> and Hong Kong studio <a href="http://www.rlphk.com/" target="_blank">Ronald Lu &amp; Partners Company Ltd</a> and is due for completion in 2017.