The Seoul Opera House project by Dutch architect group Nox, is placed on an island connected by two bridges. Since Seoul is such a city of mountains, they based their image on the idea of the viewing-stone, in this case the Yunsanseok, the multi-peak range stone. Instead of simply “building the image”, they used Gaudi´s catenary technique of the hanging model: flexible surfaces suspended from the structural nodes of the typology of an opera house and concert house. This generates a very variable configuration where most peaks develop vertically and other more horizontally.

The skin varies from highly reflective to fully transparent according to the curvature. With the loose skin they will create a public landscape which quietness will be preserved from the noise of traffic: the highway is to be wrapped in a transparent noise-absorbing structure.

All infrastructural and logistical connections are placed under the huge deck of the island.

Also by NOX: Son-O-House, D-Tower.