Videos reveal spiral staircase roof nearing completion at Snøhetta's Shanghai opera house

Architecture studio Snøhetta has released photos and videos of the Shanghai Grand Opera House, which features a dramatic spiral staircase that extends to the roof, as it nears completion.

Shots of the opera house show its exterior largely complete, including tall glazed facades and a sculptural concrete staircase that spirals over a sloping roof to meet it at its highest point.

Reminiscent of Snøhetta's 2007 Oslo Opera House, the roof of the Shanghai Grand Opera House will be publicly accessible when it opens later this year.

Located in Shanghai's Expo Houtan district, the building's accessible roof wraps around the spiral staircase, forming a second stepped route between the top of the rooftop and a plaza next to the Huangpu River.

It has a sculptural spiral staircase that leads to the top of the building's accessible roof

Images show the building's stepped roof expressed in the interior, which is set to be lined with materials designed to contrast with the white exterior, including red-stained oak.

Snøhetta designed the opera house in collaboration with Chinese studio ECADI to resemble an unfolding fan and evoke dancerly movements.

Once complete, the Shanghai Grand Opera House will contain three performance stages, with the main opera hall seating up to 2,000 visitors.

A smaller auditorium will seat up to 1,200 visitors, while a 1,000-seat auditorium will feature a flexible stage and seating arrangement designed for experimental performances.


The sloping roof steps down towards the ground around the staircase

In addition to the opera houses in Shanghai and Oslo, Snøhetta has previously designed a waterside opera house in Busan with an accessible roof that slopes down to meet the ground.

The studio won the Busan Opera House commission in 2012, and earlier this year, it revealed images on Instagram of its construction progress.

Projects recently completed by the studio include a community centre in Sweden with a walkable roof and the renovation of a warehouse in Miami for the Museum of Sex.

The photography and videography are courtesy of Snøhetta.

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