Snhetta won the international competition and was commissioned to design the Shanghai Opera House in China. Snhetta's Shanghai Grand Opera House project integrates architectural, interior, landscape and brand graphic design, and will work with the East China Institute of Architectural Design and Research (ECADI), headquartered in Shanghai, to undertake the project.

The new Grand Opera House is an important new urban planning in Shanghai. It aims to bring the city to the forefront of the global stage through economy, science and culture. Shanghai Grand Opera House is known as one of the most important cultural landmarks in Shanghai during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. It will be an important initiative to strengthen Shanghai's culture and its global influence, and also an important step to build Shanghai into a world-class city.           
The new Shanghai Opera House is located on the back beach of the World Expo, close to the Huangpu River. The Houtan area will be characterized by ecology and low carbon, which emphasizes the mission of the Grand Opera House to become a public open place. The radiation layout of the surrounding landscape and the overall geometric shape of the Grand Opera House form a harmony, which ensures and strengthens the perspective of the core landscape of the Grand Opera House from the perspective of the Grand Opera House's framed urban area and the urban area.

As an artist and public art palace, the new Shanghai Opera House contains a dynamic concept. Just as the body dancing of an opera performer or the dynamic unfolding of a fan, all of them are inspired by the outer and inner space of the Grand Opera House, extending from the lobby to three auditoriums. Fan-like roofs form a human surface and space under the roof. At the same time, the geometric expansion of roofs naturally forms spiral staircases, connecting the ground and sky, and creating excellent scenic spots facing the core urban area of Shanghai and the Huangpu River. The dynamic intention of the architectural design of the Grand Opera House also permeates its visual brand design, including the logo with high recognition of the pattern of unfolding fan, full of Oriental regional characteristics, exquisite and concise.

The roof of the Grand Opera House will become a "stage" and a living room for people, suitable for large-scale celebrations and ordinary day-to-day visits. The roof space will allow visitors to enter 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and 24 hours a day, bringing a strong sense of belonging to the public and citizens. A series of auxiliary functions, such as restaurants, galleries, exhibition halls, museums, art education institutions, libraries and small cinemas, will make the Grand Opera House a popular destination.

The centre of the Grand Opera House is the main auditorium of 2000 people: sophisticated stage equipment provides the most advanced technical solutions and excellent acoustic effects. The 2,200-seat auditorium will provide a more family-friendly configuration for smaller-scale production and rehearsal. The 1000 situational theatres offer flexible stage machinery and seats, tailored to the special scenery or experimental performance needs of the Shanghai Grand Opera House.           
The white exterior wall of the Grand Opera House contrasts with its soft silky interior. Oak is used in the foyers, galleries and auditorium floors of the Grand Opera House to ensure excellent acoustic properties. The interior of the auditorium is made of dark red wood. Super-high glass curtain wall allows the auditorium to bathe in natural light, which makes the building space change between day and season. At night, the exterior light changes the appearance of the stage tower, making the Grand Opera House look like a luminous lantern, illuminating the roof, the architectural outline and its horizontal skyline.

The Shanghai Opera House will become a world-class cultural building, with visitors and audiences in the center of the stage and theatrical space. Through its aesthetic, functional, cultural and ecological perspectives, the Grand Opera House will become an oil canvas accessible to artists, Shanghai residents and visitors around the world. They will be treated with their understanding and enthusiasm for culture, life and the beauty of art.            "Shanghai Grand Opera House is a natural sublimation of our experience in designing and performing cultural architecture." Kjetil Trdal Thorsen, co-founder of Snhetta, said. "Snhetta's understanding and competence in theatre and performance architecture design can be improved through the design and competence of a series of theatres and performance buildings around the world, from the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet (Oslo Opera House), to the Pusan Opera House in Korea, to the Isabel Bard Performance Center of Queen's University of Canada, and to the renovation of the Nante Amandil Theatre in Paris, France. Yu, this is the natural peak of the company's design talent through the accumulation of project experience. The Shanghai Grand Opera House project is Snhetta's practice of adapting measures to local conditions. At the same time, the owners and our team attach great importance to how to use public space for the people. Through design, the sense of public belonging of the Grand Opera House was sublimated. This is for every citizen of Shanghai, but also belongs to the stage of China and the world.