O'Donnell + Tuomey has unveiled plans for three interconnected, angular, red brick opera houses in Shanghai, on the site of the 2010 Expo.
The Dublin-based architecture practice has designed three performance venues, each with planted gardens placed on their angled rooftops to create an undulating park for visitors.

Conceived as a "city of opera", the 1,800-seat opera hall, 650-seat theatre and a 400-seat performance space will be arranged around a "town square" foyer.
"The theme of our plan is 'convergence'," said the architects in a statement. "Building on the established tradition of promenade, procession and flow, we see the public spaces of the city of opera like grand station halls, civic spaces of community congregation."
The architects describe brick as the "fundamental material of the project", and the building's walls, floors and roofscapes will be made from the material.
Inside the opera house, brickwork piers will contain stairs and lifts, with concrete stairways and ramps wrapping around the exterior of the separate venues. Renderings show one auditorium formed almost entirely of brick, including the balconies and boxes.

Large-scale faceted brickwork buildings have become a speciality of Irish practice. The student centre for the London School of Economics and its planned Olympicopolis masterplan both make extensive use of red brick.
Each of the Grand Shanghai Opera House's three venues has a distinct ro...