Shanghai Grand Opera House by Snøhetta enters final phase ahead of October opening

Photo by Tian Fangfang, ©Shanghai Grand Opera House

Snøhetta’s Shanghai Grand Opera House will officially open on October 17, 2026. As the project enters its final phase, preparations are underway for this landmark moment. Running through February 20, 2027, opening performance season will feature 82 high-quality performances across 47 acclaimed productions, launching an extraordinary celebration of the performing arts. Further details about the opening program will be announced closer to the opening date.

"It is incredibly rewarding to see this remarkable project approaching its opening. Watching such an ambitious vision become reality has been special. Soon, the building will belong to the people of Shanghai and its visitors, whether they come to experience a performance or simply enjoy the building and its surrounding park. I hope it will become a place that inspires, brings people together, and stands as a new landmark for the city," says Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Founding Partner of Snøhetta.

Following Snøhetta's winning proposal in the 2016 international competition, Snøhetta, East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI), Theatre Projects, and Nagata Acoustics were formally commissioned in 2019 as a consortium to deliver the Shanghai Grand Opera House from concept to completion. Realized through close collaboration, the project combines global ambition with strong local relevance.

Conceived as both a world-class performing arts venue and a civic destination for the city, the Shanghai Grand Opera House brings together three state-of-the-art auditoriums designed to support performances across different scales and genres, alongside a sweeping roofscape that offers 24-hour, year-round community access. Bringing artists and the public under one roof, the building creates a shared realm that strengthens Shanghai’s position as a global hub for culture, creativity, and exchange.

Positioned along the convex bank of the Huangpu River, the Shanghai Grand Opera House is an iconic anchor of Shanghai’s emerging cultural masterplan. Its singular, sweeping form is inspired by the fluid motions of the human body in dance and theater, embracing the site in harmony with the ebb and flow of the river. This sweeping gesture continues inside – where sculptural, deep-red volumes wind through the interior to shape the spatial rhythm.

Celebrating both the collective and the individual, the helical roof extends the project into the public realm, fostering a sense of shared ownership. A spiraling stairway connects ground and sky, opening up views toward the city and riverbanks as visitors ascend to the roofscape, which serves as a public stage, an elevated observation platform, and a civic gathering ground. The surrounding landscape adopts a radial layout that mirrors the opera house’s architectural geometry, reinforcing a holistic and context-sensitive design vision.

Snøhetta team (from left to right): Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (Founding Partner), Zenul Khan (Senior Architect), Robert Greenwood (Partner), Cheng Gong (Studio Director China), Richard Wood (Managing Director Asia), Photo by Honne Dang

Snøhetta team will be in Shanghai in October around the opening. If you are interested in connecting or interviewing, please reach out to:

Serein Liu

Communication Manager Asia, Snøhetta

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About Snøhetta

For almost 40 years, Snøhetta has designed some of the world’s most notable public and cultural projects. Snøhetta kick-started its career in 1989 with the competition-winning entry for the new library of Alexandria, Egypt. This was later followed by the commission for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, and the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center in New York City, among many others.

Since its inception, the practice has maintained its original transdisciplinary approach, and often integrates a combination of architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, product design and art across its projects. The collaborative nature between Snøhetta's different disciplines is an essential driving force of the practice.

Today, Snøhetta has a global presence, with studios in seven locations spanning from Oslo to Paris, Innsbruck, New York, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Melbourne.

Snøhetta is currently working on a wide range of international projects, including the Shanghai Grand Opera House, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Dakota, Harbourside redevelopment in Sydney and La Croisette in Cannes, to name a few.

Recently completed works include Vertikal Nydalen in Oslo, Beijing City Library, the renovation of Musée national de la Marine in Paris, Orionis - the planetarium and observatory of Douai, Airside in Hong Kong, Esbjerg Maritime Center in Denmark, 550 Madison Garden and Revitalization in New York, as well as Volum lamps for Lodes.

Some of Snøhetta's previous projects include Ordrupgaard Art Museum expansion in Denmark, the Cornell University Executive Education Center and Hotel in New York City, Le Monde Group Headquarters in Paris, including the wayfinding and signage, Europe’s first underwater restaurant, Under, the redesign of the public space in Times Square, the expansion to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Lascaux IV: The International Centre for Cave Art, Powerhouse Brattørkaia and design for Norway’s new banknotes.

Snøhetta’s working method simultaneously explores traditional handicraft and cutting-edge digital technology. At the heart of all Snøhetta’s work lies a commitment to social and environmental sustainability, shaping the built environment and design in the service of humanism. Every project is designed with strong, meaningful concepts in mind – concepts that can translate the ethos of its users and their context.

Among many recognitions, Snøhetta has been awarded the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the Aga Kahn Prize for Architecture for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In 2016, Snøhetta was named Wall Street Journal Magazine's Architecture Innovator of the Year, and the practice has been named one of the world’s most innovative companies by Fast Company two years in a row. In 2020, Snøhetta was awarded the National Design Award for Architecture, bestowed by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2021 and 2022, Snøhetta’s Forite tiles won the Sustainable Design of the Year by Dezeen and Best Domestic Design by Wallpaper* in 2022, and the wayfinding system for Le Monde Group Headquarters was acknowledged with Monocle Design Awards. In 2023, Snøhetta won a number of awards for the Esbjerg Maritime Center and was named Architects of the Year at the Monocle Design Awards, in 2024 included a number of awards to Beijing Library and the BIA 2024 Award to Snøhetta and in 2025, Snøhetta was recognized with the OPAL Special Award for Sustainability, among others.

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