As far as the arts go, opera hasn't exactly always been seen as being at the forefront of excitement and creativity. But if you build it, will they come? Norwegian architecture and design firm Snøhetta seems to think so. The firm's proposal has just been announced as the winning design for Shanghai's Grand Opera House, a new performing arts center that aims to cement the Chinese city's place on the global cultural, economic, and scientific landscape and attract a younger set of operagoers with the structure's arresting design.
Snøhetta's structure, which is set to be complete in 2023, effortlessly incorporates dance and movement into the design—an appropriate choice for a performing arts center. The most striking feature is the corkscrew spiraling staircase that connects the ground to the sky, depositing climbers onto the rooftop to take in sweeping views of the city and the Huangpu river banks. In addition to serving as a welcoming plaza for the public to enjoy, the Opera roof will play host to a series of performances and events produced on a large scale. When viewed from above, the roof's design calls to mind a fan unfolding into the surrounding landscape, which Snøhetta was also responsible for (they also designed the graphics, which work imagery of the fan into the logo). The landscape architecture was hardly an afterthought—the firm has imagined a radial layout that contextualizes the location with intentional paths to and from the city, rather than simply dropping the structure onto the site.
“The Shanghai Grand Opera House is a natural progression of our previous work with designing performing arts centers,” says Snøhetta founder Kjetil Trædal Thorsen in a statement to the press, referring to former commissions that include the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, the Busan Opera House in South Korea, the Isabel Bader Center for Performing Arts in Canada, and the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers. “It is a culmination of the competence and insight gained through [past] projects . . . a product of our contextual understanding and values, designed to promote public ownership of the building for the people of Shanghai and beyond.”
At the heart of the opera house are the three auditoriums—the main 2,000-seat theater offers state-of-the-art technical solutions and acoustics, while two smaller stages at 1,200 and 1,000 seats respectively allow for more intimate and experimental performances aimed at a younger crowd. In the lobby, ribbons of soft red silk line the walls, giving the entrance hall a more intimate feeling that stands in contrast to the stark white and glass exterior. But more than just an opera house, the structure seeks to shine a spotlight on Shanghai's cultural contributions; the country's five-year plan lists it as the most important piece of the plan.
