The high-profile development of Panama’s Amador Causeway has taken another step forward, with construction underway on a sweeping 32 acre leisure complex designed like a bird.

The Harpy Eagle – the country’s national symbol – is the inspiration for the wing-like structure of the Panama Center for Events and Performing Arts, which will contain a 240,000sq ft (22,000sq m) interior banqueting hall reflecting the rainforest canopies that are the bird’s natural habitat.

“The Harpy Eagle signifies strength, intellectualism and power, and the iconic architectural forms we’ve used create a sense of movement inspired by its flight,” said architects RM Plus, LLC Planning & Design in a statement. “We have taken many traditional elements of Panama's history and culture – including cultural patterns and colours inspired by local Mola artwork – and reinterpreted them.

“We’ve combined this with the use of technology and sleek, modern materials to develop this building so that it represents a new identity for Panama.”

Speaking exclusively to CLAD, director of design Ross Jermano added: “Panama is the commercial bridge between two oceans and two continents and has always been a connecting point between cultures, societies and regions; from the ancient Incas to the Spanish and then to modern day. This has also inspired the project.”

The complex – which will include a 2,000-capacity, 130,000sq ft (12,000sq m) performing arts theatre, a 210,000sq ft (19,500sq m) exhibition hall, bar and restaurant facilities for 300 people, an outdoor amphitheater and a grand plaza – is being built close to Frank Gehry’s recently-opened BioMuseo on the Amador Causeway.

The area, created from material excavated during the construction of the Panama Canal, was earmarked in the 1990s as a potential international tourist destination, and a host of new hotels, restaurant and museums are gradually being developed.

Several thousand people, cars, buses and taxis are expected every day when the Panama Center opens at the end of 2018, and Jermano revealed that buildings have been laid out like a university campus to allow constant circulation via protected roads and walkways. “This design also permits the individual operation of each building, conserving power and resources by only ‘turning on’ function areas that are in use,” he said.

3D building design software including Revit and Sketch Up was used for Building Information Modelling (BIM), allowing the architects and engineers to work closely together and reduce the timeframe of the project.

Jermano claimed the introduction of this way of working would boost the long-term development of Panama’s built environment. He said: “We feel that as designers we are not only responsible for the design of great buildings, but also the development of technologies, systems and working environments where we work. We want to contribute to the improvement of the local professionals that we work with.”

Structural engineering on the project is being provided by MEPFPT Engineering and TLC Engineering for Architecture. Canin Associates are the landscape architects and Robert Lorelli Associates and Siebein Associates have consulted on the theatre construction and acoustics of the centre respectively.

The budget for the project is US$193m (€177.4m, £132m).