Zhuhai Opera House

3 min read

The Zhuhai Opera House, or the “Shell, as it is more often called, is the world’s latest opera house on the sea”, the first one being the Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon and regarded as one of the 20th century’s most famous and distinctive buildings rom a distance, the”Shell” looks as if a giant UFO has taken residence in the city center, and on closer inspection, the feeling remains. Undisputedly the city’s main attraction-its shining light-the “Shell” is an embodiment of the city’s spirit in all its neon-lit multicolored glory, with a chameleon lighting scheme that smoothly changes the color of the facade. The visual spectacle can be admired from afar, for example, while cruising down the Love Promenade or from your hotel room where you open the window and sip on iced coffee as the breeze plays with your hair.Covering 59,000sqm of land and reaching 90 meters at its highest point, the “Shell” is a breath-taking mix of curvy lines and smooth glistening surfaces, featuring a modern expressionist, futuristic design, inspired by the city’s marine quality and the formation of pearls. Due to its special location on the waterfront of an island, the opera house is designed to be able to stand up to the ravage of category-12 typhoon and uses high-tech external wall materials with stunning anti-humidity capability.

Though the two “shells” appear uniformly glossy white from a distance, they actually feature a subtle mesh-style pattern that slightly resembles a huge spoked bicycle wheel, and at different points in the day produces a tantalizing spectrum of creamy hues.

The Kunkel Group, known for having turned depressed areas of downtown into prominent landmarks for the residents of Evansville to enjoy for years to come, acted as a major player for the stage machinery design of the project, with the sign system design by a prestigious company from Japan and the lighting crafted by Speirs Major (a UK lighting design practice noted for its illumination of many prominent buildings, including Barajas International Airport, the Millennium Dome and King’s Cross Central, London).

The opera houses’ acoustic mechanism, designed by Marshall Day, ensures perfect audio experience for people sitting in the last row of the main concert hall that has a seating capacity of 1, 550.

The design of the “Shell”, inspired by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, hints at the philosophy of marine life-the kind of beauty that is crafted and perfected by the elapse of time. The birth of a pearl is a wondrous process beyond description-the seemingly motionless pregnancy is a momentum-gaining process that simply creates the most beautiful life in the world. Like the symbiotic relationship between a shell and a pearl, art and the city of Zhuhai are giving life to each other.

Such an inspiring structure, and so well situated, perfectly expresses the soul and mission of Zhuhai-a life-giving city that is making progress every day.

The debut of the “Shell” in 2017 was also a dream come true for Ma Long, core member of the design team. Approached with the job offer while in the midst of crafting Beijing International Airport’s new terminal, he took up the challenge only after a long week of consideration. “It is one of the most exciting and stirring works I ‘ve ever done in my life, the architect shared.

The structure also houses an array of amenities such as cafes, restaurants and retail outlets. The multivenue performing art center has never ceased growing since its opening. It has been continuously enriched not only in its indoor facilities but also in its public space and surrounding areas. Mr. Ma Long predicted in regard to the project: “The opera house will subvert all the parochialism about what art really is and present its infinite possibilities. “And, under the blazing sun of southern China, the translucent “shells” twinkle like the two silken wings of a dragonfly, as if ready to fly beyond the horizon, where the “infinite possibilities”of the “city of pearls”are waiting.

Such an inspiring structure, and so well situated, perfectly expresses the soul and mission of Zhuhaia life-giving city that is making progress every day.