Henning Larsen has completed work on a new 750,000-square-foot opera house and cultural center in Hangzhou, China. 

The opera-in-the-park-style complex is wrapped by a fractured metal panel and glass facade designed to reference the cracked ice that forms during the winter months along the surface of a lake adjacent to the complex. The opera is filled with a collection of performance and exhibition spaces, including a 1,400-seat concert hall with raked seating and a 500-seat black-box performance venue. 

In section, the complex is arranged as a trio of canted volumes organized on either side of a central elevated plaza. The plaza is designed to hold up to 10,000 people and can be used even when the multi-functional cultural center is closed down, according to a project press release. The arrangement is meant to allow the building to "dissolve into the city" while also allowing the complex to act as a large public stage for local residents and visitors.

The opera house is the latest in a steady stream of new concert halls and opera houses taking shape across China. 

Claude Godefroy, partner and design director of Henning Larsen’s Hong Kong office, explained in a statement, “There is a competition amongst Chinese cities to create new destinations, each with their iconic cultural landmarks. When designing those cultural nodes our most important task is to create truly lively urban centers that can welcome citizens at all times whether they are paying guests or not." 

Godefroy added, "That is why we take care to design a diversified and activated public realm around the venues to complete the experience and to complete the city with livable city centers.”

The project was brought to life by Henning Larsen and a team of project partners that includes Hangzhou Architectural & Civil Engineering Design Institute Co., Buro Happold Engineering, and Bassinet Turquin Paysage, and AECOM.