Who designed the Guangzhou Opera House?

Zaha Hadid designed the Guangzhou Opera House in Guangzhou, China. Her winning concept shaped the complex as two smooth, irregular forms resembling pebbles washed by the Pearl River.

An international competition in 2002 attracted proposals from Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and Coop Himmelb(l)au. Hadid’s “double pebble” design won later that year, construction began in 2005, and the opera house opened on 9 May 2010. The project became one of the best-known examples of her expressive, deconstructivist architecture.

The larger building contains an opera hall with 1,804 seats, while the complex also includes a smaller theater and supporting performance spaces. Its exposed steel-and-glass exterior surrounds a largely independent concrete auditorium. A common confusion is to credit the building to another prominent architect involved in the competition; the completed design, however, is Hadid’s, developed through Zaha Hadid Architects.