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Jean Nouvel and SANAA announced as winning designs for Shenzhen’s new opera house and maritime museum

Jean Nouvel have won a competition to design the new opera house in Shenzhen, while SANAA submitted the winning entry for the city's maritime museum

The arrival of the Opera House will create a long sequence along a coastline that has already been diversified over a stretch more than a kilometre long

Renowned French architects Jean Nouvel have won a competition to design a new opera house in Shenzhen, while Japan’s SANAA submitted the winning entry for the ever-expanding city’s new maritime museum.

The winning designs were announced on 16 March by the Shenzhen Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, chosen from a competition that attracted submissions from more than 80 architectural teams globally. The two designs will contribute to the city’s mission to build 10 new cultural attractions.

Jean Nouvel’s design for the opera house, dubbed Light of the Sea, is inspired by the shell of mother-of-pearl and the ocean. The 222,000sq m facility will be located on the coast at Dongjiaotou in Shekou, on a peninsula jutting out into the South China Sea.

Surrounded by promenade and parkland, the structure rises up in a wave-like structure as it reaches towards and merges with the sea. Work on the Shenzhen Opera House could start this year, with the attraction opening in 2024.

According to the judging panel of global experts: “The design is very original, inspirational and creative around the themes of embracing the music and the sea with architecture, combining abstract and concrete concepts and integrating coasts, communities, buildings and parks. The style of the architecture is dynamic with great visual impact force.”

Meanwhile, winners of the competition to design the Shenzhen Maritime Museum, SANAA, imagined a series of white, undulating domes in their Clouds on the Sea. The ‘floating architecture’ design connects the mountains, wetlands and the ocean on the Dapeng peninsula.

The maritime museum will integrate collections, research, and visitor experience, as well hosting a marine science research and education centre.

Judges praised the humble, modest nature of the design and its respect for the surrounding environment.

Also among Shenzhen’s programme for 10 new cultural attractions are Shenzhen Hall of the National Museum of China, Shenzhen Nature Museum, Shenzhen Conservatory of Music and Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum.

SANAA’s Clouds on the Sea reflects the mountains, wetlands and the oceans of the Dapeng peninsula   CREDIT: SANAA