Cardiff Bay Opera House

The opera house was located at the juncture of a major boulevard, a peripheral distribution road and the harbor, and was to serve as the core of a future urban development of the surrounding area.

Our design is organized by a mediating wall surface that spirals out from the stage proscenium to become the building envelope. Urban scale windows on the exterior reiterate the wall surface as an interface between audience/performance. Entry ramps extend the urban space of the adjacent piazza into the concourse, allowing events in these areas to occur independent of the Opera House proper. Influenced by the importance that water has played in the identity of Cardiff, glass rain slots are placed on axis with the historic city docks allowing rain to fall through the building.