Which opera house in Guangzhou was designed by Zaha Hadid?

Which opera house in Guangzhou was designed by Zaha Hadid? The answer is Guangzhou Opera House.

Zaha Hadid won an international design competition for the project in 2002. Construction began in 2005, and the building opened on 9 May 2010 in Guangzhou’s Zhujiang New Town business district. Its design is often described as two smooth, irregular “pebbles” shaped by the flow of the Pearl River.

The complex contains a main opera hall, a multipurpose theatre, rehearsal spaces, restaurants, shops, and public areas. The main auditorium seats about 1,800 people, while the building’s granite-and-glass exterior gives it its distinctive faceted appearance. It became one of southern China’s major cultural landmarks.

A common mix-up is confusing it with Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts or Shanghai’s major theatres. Those buildings are also prominent Chinese performance venues, but neither is the Guangzhou project designed by Hadid. The opera house’s opening production was Puccini’s Turandot, directed by Shahar Stroh.