The new Hanoi Opera House by Renzo Piano is inspired by an oyster shell

The new Hanoi Opera House designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop is under construction, putting the spotlight on the Vietnamese capital as an active player on the international cultural scene and on a new disruptive architectural gesture of "hybridisation" (as often happens in the firm’s practice) between technology and genius loci, between engineering and poetics.

The theatre, referred to as “Island of Music” (Isola della Musica) and obtained by removing approximately 13,000 square metres of land, is a cyclopean complex floating on the water between West Lake and Đam Tri Lake, in an area undergoing transformation and once roamed by oyster fishermen for the trade of rare pink, orange and white pearls. And it is precisely the articulated shapes of oyster shells that inspire the composition, characterised by sinuous volumes revealing the functional layout in the exteriors, along with an organic approach that rejects formalism and draws on mathematical principles derived from nature. 

The structure was developed through a complex computational engineering process, which made it possible to optimise the design in terms of static efficiency, seismic resistance and construction cost reduction.
Form is determined by a system of 3D catenary curves in ribbed concrete that work exclusively under compression, capable of dissipating loads on the perimeter and at a few internal points and allowing the creation of a hyper-thin shell in which views of the landscape open up through large glass surfaces.

Externally, a “pixelated skin” in pearly-toned ceramic enlivens with different shades depending on the time of day and the seasons, evoking the poetics of the iridescent shell of an oyster as a precious treasure chest, full of music instead of pearls.
Inside, the 1,800-seat Opera Hall and the 1,000-seat Congress Hall are designed to adapt to different programmes and performances.