case study of opera house

Harbin Opera House by MAD Architects: Design inspired by the surroundings

The Harbin Opera House by MAD Architects on the banks of river Songhua, surrounded by the wetlands on the outskirts of the city of Harbin in China is a cultural island flaunting its white fluid structures across the surrounding landscape. The enormous island of 444 acres consists of performance art theatres, overlooking the rapidly urbanizing city of Harbin with its tall skyscrapers. The island containing the Harbin Opera House is occupied by a built-up structure of 850,000 square feet. 

The cultural centre consists of two theatres, underground parking spaces and exterior performance areas. MAD Architects, a firm based in Beijing founded by Ma Yansong, won the Cultural Island Competition which was conducted to decide the designers of the Opera House. The construction of the cultural complex began in 2011 and was completed by 2015.  

Extension of Surrounding Landscape | Harbin Opera House

The sinuous design of the Harbin Opera House was inspired by the surrounding wetlands and the abutting river and was designed to be a fluid extension of its geographic context. The city has snowy terrain during winters and the pristine white cultural centre looks as if camouflaged within its site. 

The design of the structure by the head architect Ma Yansong of MAD architects was derived from the idea to create a public space in contrast to the towering skyscrapers of the typical urban fabric of many cities in China. The concept was to design a cultural centre that could be pivotal in how the public spaces in the city are perceived. 

The cultural island is often used by people for taking long walks, to have picnics and functions as an intended public space that Ma Yansong derived.

The Public Plaza

The Harbin Opera House consists of a large plaza at the entrance, functioning as a welcoming public space set amidst the built structures, leading up to the two theatres. The grand theatre can house 1,600 people and a smaller adjoining theatre can accommodate an audience of 400. There is also a spacious exterior performance space with an observation deck between the theatre spaces. The cultural centre has ample parking situated underground that can be accessed directly through a tunnel below the ground level. 

The entire transit areas including all of the parking and vehicular circulation are directed underground at the helm of the entrance to the plaza. So visually all the users see are the surreal white shells of the built structures on the flat open space overlooking the river and the city. 

Light Material Palette 

The warm spacious lobby of the theatre complex in the Harbin Opera House is enclosed by curved walls made of white concrete and the entire flooring is clad in marble, the white palette seamlessly transitioning to the Manchurian Ash wood-clad sculptural staircases and balconies that lead up to the theatres. 

The marble flooring is equipped with radiant heating systems to deal with the extreme cold in the region with its temperature dipping as low as -19 degrees Celsius. This keeps the spaces comfortable during long winters where the public can enjoy the amenities of the cultural centre. 

Pristine Glass 

Seamless glass walls connect the exterior plaza with the naturally lit high-ceilinged lobby of the Harbin Opera House. A part of the roof of the fresh white lobby is composed of a lightweight diagrid structure that supports a glass curtain wall. Numerous transparent pyramids sit in the framework of the curtain wall. It is equipped with a customized system that melts the snow and it, in turn, gets directed to integrated drains. 

The roof structure has contrasting elements of smooth white aluminium plates that look like overlapping shells and skewered glass curtain walls.

Warm Interiors of a Music Instrument 

The organic exterior of the Harbin Opera House encompasses warm wood-clad interiors of the theatres with seats arranged in pockets overlooking the stage and equipped with acoustical ingenuity. The insides of the theatres – from the galleries and balconies to the walls and ceilings are clad with Manchurian Ash. The raked seating of the small theatre is furnished with perforated and non-perforated wood panels to enhance the acoustics . 

The interiors of the theatres are designed to evoke the warmth of the inside of a musical instrument, says Ma Yansong. The acoustics are designed in such a way as to accommodate both classical and contemporary music.

Accessible Roof | Harbin Opera House

The roof of the Harbin Opera House, made of overlapping white shells contains a niche with a winding marble-clad staircase leading up scenic views of the surroundings. MAD Architects collaborated with the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design in designing the steel skeleton that holds the fluid exteriors. Parts of the pristine white shells are clad with smooth white aluminium panels. 

A roof garden being the destination of the winding path was designed as an ode to the tradition of trekking up sacred mountainous terrain in China’s landscapes. 

www.architecturalrecord.com. (n.d.). Harbin Opera House . [online] Available at: https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/11368-harbin-opera-house [Accessed 2 Apr. 2021].

Journal. (2018). Behind the Building: Harbin Opera House by MAD Architects – Architizer Journal . [online] Available at: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/harbin-opera-house/#:~:text=Precast%20Concrete&text=Working%20in%20tandem%20with%20the [Accessed 2 Apr. 2021].

Wikipedia. (2020). Harbin Grand Theatre . [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin_Grand_Theatre [Accessed 2 Apr. 2021].

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Critical Analysis of Sydney Opera House.

This paper contains the critical analysis and evaluation of Sydney Opera House : Project Determinants, Generators, Collaboration and Quality.

Related Papers

Glenn A Harper

Simon Dwyer

The story of the construction of the Sydney Opera House is well told though numerous scholarly outputs ranging from monographs about specific building elements to critiques of the architectural form and function. This article explores how the stories of those who inhabit the various spaces within the Sydney Opera House have become supplementary and are often overlooked in the narrative of what is Australia's most famous building. In particular, this article seeks to highlight some of the stories of this unique performing arts complex utilising the lens of those who ensure the building functions – administrators, technicians and tradespeople – in this way offering a biography of a building that does not adopt the traditional point of view of the architect, the performer and the politician. The biography thus explores the backstage stories of the Sydney Opera House rather than those stories that made front-page news.

The Sydney Opera House silhouette is recognised the world over. It is a story of drama and complexities - a foreign architect, a courageous modern design, political debate and skyrocketing costs - yet it is also the story of a building that has been adopted as an icon for Sydney, and possibly the Australian nation. This paper is an examination of the media's role in introducing the concept of the Sydney Opera House to the Australian public: a structure so familiar today, that was shocking when first revealed. Focusing on media coverage of the competition period, 1956-57, with emphasis on the announcement of the winning design, this presentation tells the story of how we, and the world, came to know this building. The media, particularly newspapers, played a crucial role in setting the early standards for how we would interact with, understand and ultimately come to appreciate the icon on Bennelong Point. Front page coverage, cartoons and lengthy opinion pieces (supplemented by a rich range of imagery) all contributed to the generation of an essential chapter in the history of architecture and one of the world's most famous performing arts complexes. This early reportage setting the scene, and establishing an ongoing appetite, for news of a site that continues to intrigue and court controversy.

The Sydney Opera House has achieved fame not only for its spectacular location and harbour side setting but also for its architectural form. The building dominates Bennelong Point, a heavy granite base supporting lightweight shells that appear to soar, effortlessly, between the sky above and water below. This icon of the built environment that is perfectly balanced between earth and sky is one of the world’s busiest performing arts centres. This paper will explore an under-examined visual aspect of the performances held at the Sydney Opera House: Jørn Utzon’s utilisation of both natural and artificial illumination to reinforce the architectural form and to also shape audience perceptions of the building that surrounds the performance spaces. This examination of lighting will unpack the link between how Utzon envisaged the interpretation of the physical structure and how this complex set of venues (with spaces seating from around 400 to 2,500 people) would be in concert with the ‘world of the play’. Thus, as will be argued, the lighting of the building’s exteriors and interiors form an extension of the stage lighting for individual productions presented within the building. Indeed, the lighting of performances, it will be asserted, is enhanced through the ability of the lighting of the structure to directly contribute to the idea of the stage and the more traditional theatrical lighting designs deployed to illuminate presentations from ballet to opera to theatre.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the world's most recognisable buildings. It serves as a symbol of Sydney and, often, Australia. Visited by over eight million people a year there is considerable interest in this icon of the built environment but an interest that does not readily flow into academic research outputs. For instance, the illumination remains an under investigated aspect of the edifice, compared to the construction or specific elements such as the glazing or acoustics. This paper will briefly discuss the interdisciplinary nature of the research into the illumination of the Sydney Opera House that is currently been undertaken to uncover the original design concepts and then relate these to the function of the building as a performing arts centre. Using the Sydney Opera House as a case study, the research examines the notion of theatricality in lighting design, drawing inferences from the aesthetic principles of stage lighting and applying these to the architectural lighting of this iconic structure. When completed, this research aims to demonstrate that, in relation to the world's most easily recognised performing arts complex, the efforts of the original lighting design team produced a scheme in which the illumination – incidentally or intentionally – is specifically theatrical.

The Sydney Opera House has achieved fame, not only for its spectacular location and harbour side setting but also for its architectural form. The building dominates Bennelong Point, a heavy granite base supporting lightweight shells that appear to soar, effortlessly, between the sky above and water below. This icon of the built environment – perfectly balanced between earth and sky is one of the world’s busiest performing arts centres. This chapter will explore an under-examined visual aspect of the performances held at the Sydney Opera House: Jørn Utzon’s utilisation of both natural and artificial illumination to reinforce the architectural form and to also shape audience perceptions of the building that surrounds the performance spaces. This examination of lighting will unpack the link between how Utzon envisaged the interpretation of the physical structure and how this complex set of venues (with spaces seating from around 400 to 2,500 people) would be in concert with the ‘world of the play’. Thus, as will be argued, the lighting of the building’s exteriors and interiors form an extension of the stage lighting for individual productions presented within the building. Indeed, the lighting of performances, it will be asserted, is enhanced through the ability of the lighting of the structure to directly contribute to the idea of the stage and the more traditional theatrical lighting designs deployed to illuminate presentations from ballet to opera to theatre.

Juan Rey Rey

Over the last decades, the new technical means and methods, and in particular computing technology, has became more and more popular and efficient and their capabilities evolved exponentially in due time. This development has led to the present situation, where structural analysis has stopped being a hindrance to the development of projects with geomet- rical and construction complexity. The Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, it is one of the most rep- resentative examples of the architecture developed prior to the disappearance of the structural analysis barrier in architectural design that tried to cross this imaginary border. When design work for the competition started in 1956, personal computers did not exist, nor did the software packages for graphic representation and structural analysis. Thus, to enable their definition and analysis, the proposed free-form surfaces have been forced to adapt to a well understood geome- try as well as the shells have ...

The Dictionary of Sydney

Helen Pitt, The House Allen & Unwin, 432pp., ISBN 9781760295462, p/bk, AUS$32.99 Reviewed by Simon Dwyer, September 2018

Structures and Architecture: concepts, applications and challenges

Kaj Grønbæk

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Sydney Opera House: Creating a Masterpiece

By: Ning Su, Lisa Chen, Kathy Wu, Maria Migueis-Teixeira

The Sydney Opera House, an iconic architectural landmark and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site, was officially opened in 1973. The project cost…

• Length: 11 page(s)
• Publication Date: Feb 16, 2021
• Discipline: Strategy
• Product #: W21042-PDF-ENG

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The Sydney Opera House, an iconic architectural landmark and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site, was officially opened in 1973. The project cost AU$102 million and took 14 years to complete-AU$95 million and 10 years more than originally estimated. The challenges with the construction of the opera house included a brilliant and visionary architect who lacked project management experience, team collapse due to misalignment, bureaucratic and political issues that hindered work, and a rush to begin construction without proper planning. What could have been done at crucial crossroads to facilitate the project? What could today's project managers learn for future construction?

Learning Objectives

The case is suitable for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on project management or strategy. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following: Explore the impact of key project management decisions. Discuss how to evaluate the success and failure of projects. Identify and apply best practices to manage future projects.

Feb 16, 2021

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Performing arts and museums, Public administration

Ivey Publishing

W21042-PDF-ENG

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The sidney opera house construction: a case of project management failure.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the best-known iconic buildings, recognized around the world as a global symbol of Australia. The Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the architecture competition set out by the New South Wales government for the new building in 1957, and the construction started in 1959. The project was originally scheduled for four years, with a budget of AUS $7 million. It ended up taking 14 years to be completed and cost AUS $102 million.

The Sydney Opera House could probably be seen as one of the most disastrous construction projects in history not only from the financial point of view but also for the whole management plan. Lets analyze the main reasons that led to it.

First of all, at the beginning of any project goals and objectives have to be clearly defined by the client to provide a guideline for what the project must complete. There are three main factors: time, cost, and quality. In the case of the Sydney Opera House the last one was the most important, as it was an almost unrestricted goal of the project and the reason why it was launched. No indications regarding time or cost limits were either provided for the competition. Thus, the architects were allowed total freedom in their designs.

After Utzon was selected, he presented his “Red Book” in March 1958, which consisted of the Sydney National Opera House report. It comprised some indications such as plans, sections, reports by consultants, etc. The funds came almost entirely from a dedicated lottery, so the project was not a financial burden for the government. Regarding time planning the goal was to complete the construction at the end of 1962 and have the grand opening at the start of 1963. The project should have lasted four years.

The main stakeholder was the architect, but Utzon was much more concerned with the design aspect rather than time and costs objectives, which proved problematic. During the project, Utzon collaborated with Ove Arup, who was in charge of the structure and the engineering. With some other subcontractors, the team was in charge of mechanics, electrics, heating and ventilating, lighting and acoustics. There was no real project manager, but rather collaboration between Utzon and Arup.

The other main stakeholder was the client, the state of New South Wales. This encompassed the Australian government, which launched the competition for the project, and especially the Labor Premier, Joe Cahill. A part-time executive committee was created to provide project supervision but the members had no real technical skills. The government eventually became an obstacle to the project team by inhibiting changes during the progress of the operations and thus contributed to cost overrun and delays. Finally, the public was an indirect stakeholder because they were concerned with the projects success.

There appeared to be problems from the start of the project that was divided into three stages: Stage 1 was the podium, stage 2 was the outer shells, and stage 3 was the interiors and windows. Apparently Utzon protested that he had not completed the designs for the structure, but the government insisted the construction had to get underway. In addition, the client changed the requirements of the design after the construction was started, moving from two theatres to four, so plans and designs had to be modified during construction.

Regarding the project’s budget the initial estimation was drawn on incomplete design drawings and site surveys which later lead to disagreements. The contractors for the first stage successfully claimed additional costs of AUS $1,2 million in 1962 due to design changes. When it was completed in 1963, it had cost an estimated AUS $5.2 million and it was already 47 weeks over schedule for the whole project.

Stage two became the most controversial stage of the entire construction. As costs were rising a new government stepped in and monitored all payments being requested by the Opera House. By the end of stage one, Utzon submitted an updated estimate of the projects total cost as AUS$12.5 million. As more payments were being delivered and no visible progress was seen, the government began withholding payments to Utzon. Stage two slowed down and in 1966 Utzon felt he was forced to resign from the project as his creative freedom was restricted, and therefore could not bring his perfect idea to fruition.

This came as a shock and nearly an insult to Utzon who had been fending off the Government from rising costs for years. The news that they had agreed to that budget, which was more than four times Utzon’s original estimate, was evidence that he had been unjustly treated.

Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the Sydney Opera House in 1973, after 17 years of redesigns, underestimates and cost overruns. By 1975, the building had paid for itself, thanks mainly to the lottery system that was created to help its funding. Utzon was never to return to Australia, never to see the final result of his work that was recognized as an incredible feat of architecture. In 2003 the architect was honored with the Pritzker Prize for architecture, the most renowned architectural prize in the world.

Comentarios ( 4 )

[…] シドニー・オペラハウスの建設も、当初は4年しかかからない予定でしたが、結局14年もかかりました。 […]

[…] for Windows 10, before quietly axing it altogether. Even construction of the Sydney Opera House was only supposed to take four years. It ended up taking […]

[…] تالار اپرای سیدنی قرار بود ۴ سال طول بکشد، اما در نهایت پس از ۱۴ سال به پایان رسید. چرا این اتفاق‌ها می‌افتد؟ چرا تیم‌ها از ریل خارج […]

[…] the world of design and construction maybe one of the most famous cases in the 20th century is a Sydney Opera House. 76 million US dollars of budget overrun and decades of delays should be a strong lesson to our […]

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Guangzhou Opera House / Zaha Hadid Architects

• Curated by ArchDaily
• Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
• Area Area of this architecture project Area:  70000 m²
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2010
• Photographs Photographs: Iwan Baan
• Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:   Reggiani , Kvadrat
• Lighting Consultant : Beijing Light & View
• Main Contractor : China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co. Ltd
• Construction Management : Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co. Ltd
• Project Management : Guangzhou Municipal Construction Group Co. Ltd
• Acoustic Consultants : Marshall Day Acoustics
• Structural Engineering : SHTK , Guangzhou Pearl River Foreign Investment Architectural Designing Institute
• Architects:  Zaha Hadid Architects
• Project Director:  Woody K.T. Yao, Patrik Schumacher
• Project Leader:  Simon Yu
• Project Team:  Jason Guo, Yang Jingwen, Long Jiang, Ta-Kang Hsu, Yi- Ching Liu, Zhi Wang, Christine Chow, Cyril Shing, Filippo Innocenti, Lourdes Sanchez, Hinki Kwong, Junkai Jiang
• Theater Consultants:  ENFI
• Building Services:  Guangzhou Pearl River Foreign Investment Architectural Designing Institute
• City:  Guangzhou
• Country:  China

Text description provided by the architects. Like pebbles in a stream smoothed by erosion, the Guangzhou Opera House sits in perfect harmony with its riverside location. The Opera House is at the heart of Guangzhou’s cultural development. Its unique twin-boulder design enhances the city by opening it to the Pearl River, unifying the adjacent cultural buildings with the towers of international finance in Guangzhou’s Zhujiang new town.

The 1,800-seat auditorium of the Opera House houses the very latest acoustic technology, and the smaller 400-seat multifunction hall is designed for performance art, opera and concerts in the round.

The design evolved from the concepts of a natural landscape and the fascinating interplay between architecture and nature; engaging with the principles of erosion, geology and topography. The Guangzhou Opera House design has been particularly influenced by river valleys – and the way in which they are transformed by erosion.

Fold lines in this landscape define territories and zones within the Opera House, cutting dramatic interior and exterior canyons for circulation, lobbies and cafes, and allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the building. Smooth transitions between disparate elements and different levels continue this landscape analogy. Custom moulded glass-fibre reinforced gypsum (GFRC) units have been used for the interior of the auditorium to continue the architectural language of fluidity and seamlessness.

The Guangzhou Opera House has been the catalyst for the development of cultural facilities in the city including new museums, library and archive. The Opera House design is the latest realization of Zaha Hadid Architects’ unique exploration of contextual urban relationships, combining the cultural traditions that have shaped Guangzhou’s history, with the ambition and optimism that will create its future.

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Address: guangzhou, guangdong, china.

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Sweeney Opera House was on the South West corner of East 1st and McLeod, across McLeod Street from Independence Hall.  It was formally opened on May 14, 1904.  A maple floor was added in 1912, which was apparently a big deal, as it is often mentioned.  In addition to shows, Sweeney's was also used for other activities, including sports, as the school did not have a gym at the time.  In 1935 a skating rink opened there, and continued on and off at least into 1937, and again in 1944 and 1948.  The California Theatre was in Sweeney's temporary in 1931 while major repairs were made to its building (now the Theater Mall behind the Schenone building) following a fire.   In October 1938, the name was changed to the Palm Ballroom.  In 1939 Viale's Market opened in a portion of the building and remained until the fire.  The ballroom was still used for events.  In 1944 Cresta Blanca held a "Turkey Party".  In 1946 Carol Jean opened a dance studio there.  The Sweeney Opera House burned in November of 1948, and was being used for events up until the day of the fire.

This picture is probably later then the previous ones.  The Sweeney house is 2 story here while in the top picture it looks like one story.  The telephone line in front does not appear to be there in the top two pictures.