Earlier this year (2021), Jean Nouvel won an international design competition to build an opera house in Shenzen, China.  The proposal was named, “The Light Of The Sea”.  The Shenzen government held the competition for a “world-class palace of art” to be the most important of a project that will include 9 other cultural landmarks.   The new Shenzhen Opera House will cover 220,000 square meters and include an opera hall, concert hall, operetta hall,  a multi-function theater, and other spaces for it’s functionality.  Nouvel commented, “Architecture is already a song. Architecture is an interpretation. Of a song that evokes the poetry of a place, a song that pervades that place, an echo.”

Inside of the main foyer in the proposed structure, a nacreous material will simulate the bright lustrous effects of mother-of-pearl.  Externally, the new Opera House appears to be be inspired by the waves of the sea.   Nouvel commented on his design, “At Shenzhen, then, inside as well as out, the twin image of mother-of-pearl shell and wave will open on to the ever changing light of the sea.”