New progress has been made in the construction of the Shenzhen Opera House, which tops the list of Shenzhen’s 10 major cultural facilities in the following years, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported Thursday.

A computer-generated image of the Shenzhen Opera House

According to a bidding plan released by the Shenzhen Municipal Public Works Bureau recently, the bureau has a total of 24 projects planned for bidding this month, including the bidding plan for earthwork, foundation pit support and pile foundation works for the Shenzhen Opera House project.

The Shenzhen Opera House project is located on the west side of Shenzhen Bay Bridge, adjacent to Shenzhen Bay in the south. The project’s total construction area is 222,000 square meters, including an opera hall, a concert hall, a multifunction theater and supporting facilities.

The opera house will be built into a world-class palace of art, a new platform for international cultural exchanges in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a new landmark of art and culture in Shenzhen, and an art parlor for Shenzhen citizens.

The project site of Shenzhen Opera House is divided into two zones along Wanghai Road. The south zone is the opera house’s core plot, with a land area of 144,000 square meters, while the north zone covers a construction area of 31,000 square meters.

The whole project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.

In March 2021, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel won the first prize in the international architecture competition for the opera house’s design.

Nouvel’s proposal “Light of Sea” responds to the site and the theme in both abstract and concrete ways, telling a highly original story of music and the sea from the perspective of the city, the mountain and the sea.

Nouvel imagined the Shenzhen Opera House as an open art public space. To help further connect the building to the surrounding water, the interior design will include the use of iridescent materials to create a dreamy light and shadow effect.