(Photos: Hufton + Crow Photographers)
Spain is not the only country producing containers without content (as William Curtis puts it earlier in this issue). China is pretty good at it too. The Guangzhou Opera House, designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2010, is part of a big urban redevelopment scheme supposed to redefine the industrial image of China’s third largest city − also known as the “factory of the world” − as a neat place for nature and culture.
Zaha Hadid’s design shows three buildings with soft edges, creating public spaces with stairs and terraces that connect the building and the adjacent business district to the shore of the river: the architects describe their concept as “pebbles in the river.” Yet while 200 million US dollars were spent on the building’s construction, no money was put aside for a permanent orchestra to play in it. And now, two years after the opening, it looks like its walls are already crumbling here and there.... (fh)
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