Located within New York's Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, a complex of several buildings dedicated to the stage arts, the Metropolitan Opera House forms the monumental backdrop to Lincoln Centre Plaza. The building is clad in white travertine and features a portico with large arches and a glass façade which allows light to filter through in the evening, transforming the building into a gigantic urban lantern. With a seating capacity of up to 3,900, it is often mentioned as the largest Opera House in the world.

Considered one of the most famous 20th century architectures and an undisputed symbol of Sydney, the complex located in a privileged position in the bay, on a strip of land surrounded by the sea on three sides, is composed by three buildings (the Concert Hall for 2,600 seats, the Opera House and the restaurant) arranged on a granite platform. A characteristic element of the complex are the shell roofs, developed after long research and inspired by the segments of an orange, made of prefabricated concrete ribs and covered in white tiles.

The Teatro Regio in Turin's Piazza Castello is the city's main theatre and one of the largest and most prestigious nationally and internationally. Inaugurated in 1740 according to a Rococo design by Benedetto Alfieri, after various transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1936 and rebuilt after the war, to be inaugurated in 1973 on a project by Carlo Mollino and Sergio Musmeci (for the structures). The frankly modern intervention, while rejecting a philological approach, nevertheless suggested the Baroque origin of the building through the sinuous lines from which the foyer, stage and balconies derive. Between 1995 and 1996, the hall underwent major acoustic, functional and regulatory restoration work, designed by Roberto Gabetti and Aimaro Isola.

The Opéra Bastille is the largest theatre in Europe and second only to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York worldwide. Opened in 1989 to celebrate the bicentenary of the French Republic, the cyclopean modern building with its translucent shell was designed not only to provide relief to the historic (and eclectically stately) Palais Garnier, but also and above all with the aim of making opera more accessible to the general public. The main hall, designed to ensure perfect acoustics and optimal visibility from every seat, can accommodate up to 2,745 spectators. 

Located within the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, the building is characterised by a marked formal and technological virtuosity, typical of Calatrava's style. The floating shell-like roof resembles an exoskeleton or a spaceship, whose immaculate surfaces reflect the Valencian sunlight. The complex includes a 1,706-seat auditorium for opera, concerts and ballet performances, a 380-seat chamber music hall for theatre performances and events, an auditorium with a maximum capacity of 1,520 people and, adjacent to the main building, a 400-seat auditorium for experimental theatre, dance and exhibition spaces.

The Opera House, located in the centre of Copenhagen on the artificial island of Dokøen, is part of a major urban redevelopment programme for a former port area undergoing transformation. The building is located on the same axis as the Amalienborg Palace and the Marmokirken, in a strategic position to emphasise its role as an impressive urban landmark. The complex houses a 1,700-seat auditorium and a 200-seat black box stage for experimental theatre. The wooden shell enclosing the auditorium, inspired by the shape of a shell and topped by a vertiginous cantilevered roof, is visible from the harbour through the glass façade and lights up like a lantern at dusk.

The complex located near Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City is, together with Herzog & De Meuron's National Stadium (“The Bird's Nest”, 2008), one of the symbols of the economic and cultural renaissance of the Chinese capital at the beginning of the second millennium. Its hyper-modern and disruptive configuration was intended to suggest the country's look to the future: the ellipsoidal dome-shaped volume with a titanium cladding pierced by glass panels is located on an artificial lake, on which it is reflected, creating a continuous play of reflections. The structure houses an auditorium for theatre performances, operas and ballets with 2,416 seats, a concert hall and a space for contemporary and modern art exhibitions and performances.

The opera house is part of a programme to redevelop the city's historic industrial waterfront area, with the aim of transforming it into an attractive and lively public space. The building emerges from the sea like a giant ice slab. The roof is an “architectural promenade” that blends the natural and artificial landscape, inviting the eye to wander towards the fjord and redefining the relationship between architecture, city and waterfront. The promenade continues into the public atrium, where the white Carrara marble cladding of the outer shell creates a walkway that seamlessly connects the outside and inside.

The complex is divided into two irregularly shaped, rounded volumes, inspired by river pebbles, which comprise two adjacent opera theatres and connect with museum sites in a part of the city undergoing transformation. While the exterior is “mineral” and grey in tone, the interiors light up with golden bands dotted with lights, large windows and floating concrete bands.

In Harbin, known as the “music capital” of northern China, Mad designed an opera house that blends seamlessly with its natural surroundings. The complex, housing a main stage with 1,600 seats and a secondary stage with 400 seats, is part of Harbin’s “culture island” on the Songhua River, alongside other institutions. Inspired by the climatic characteristics of the cold and humid area, the building stands like a snow-covered mountain eroded by wind and rain, dissolving the boundary between the built environment and nature through fluid forms and evanescent surfaces. On the outside, the façade cladding in white aluminium panels creates a play of light reflections, while on the inside, the “ice” melts into soft, enveloping atmospheres shaped by undulating wooden surfaces.

The project conceived the entire building as a "sound cave", a natural acoustic space shaped by curved walls and voids to control the flow of sound, light and air. The innovative concrete shell structure without intermediate supports and the organic shapes inspired by corals create a fluid and enveloping space. The complex includes a large theatre with 2,014 seats, a prose theatre with 800 seats and an experimental hall with 200 seats, as well as the Art Plaza (a space dedicated to art and creativity), restaurants and cafés.

The complex includes an opera house, a concert hall and a theatre, complemented by a multi-purpose hall and an open-air stage. The volumes are inspired by the sails of boats and the roof lines of old warehouses along the canal, reinterpreted in a contemporary key. The three buildings are enveloped by a silver “drape” of aluminium panels, rising on one side to reveal the glass structure underneath, allowing natural light to enter. Inside, the circular opera house features a warm colour palette, from the wood panelling to the deep red of the seats.

The theatre is a colossal complex floating on the water in an area undergoing transformation and once frequented by freshwater oyster fishermen. The structure, characterised by sinuous volumes elaborated through complex digital design, is inspired by the articulated shapes of oyster shells. Externally, a pearly-toned ceramic “pixelated skin” changes colour depending on the time of day and the season; internally, the 1,800- seat Opera Hall and 1,000-seat Congress Hall are designed to adapt to different programmes and performances.

The project is located in an emerging cultural district of the capital, as part of a wider urban redevelopment programme. A distinctive feature of the work is the roof, which is entirely covered with photovoltaic panels. Its undulating shape pays homage to the traditional xhubleta, a bell-shaped skirt worn by Kosovar women, and indicates the main entrances and functions. Beneath the exposed wooden structure, the enclosure is completely glazed to open onto the public square outside. The complex includes a 1,200-seat concert hall, a 1,000-seat theatre, a 300-seat concert hall and an additional theatre, as well as other communal spaces.