dezeen

architecture as landscape, except its completely static and not open or actually dynamic in any respect.

lovely forms - a woman in concrete and steel

sensual

she is the Madonna of architecture area

as with Madonna i think she is over-hyped.
her buildings typically look spectacular at first viewing, but with subsequent revisits get progressively more uninteresting (often they look best in her beautiful drawings). this is much the same as with subsequent listens of a Madonna pop song.
what happened to days of subtle buildings that ‘grow’ on their users? Its seems a pity that fantastic architecture is pervasive obsession of the design media…

dubai >> sand >> dunes … I suppose it took a lot of time to figure out this concept
I didn’t find the opera neither.. would love to see it, and I hope it deals with the essence of opera instead of dunes…

Fantastic architecture is pervasive obsession of the design media? Right - so we should concentrate on all the mediocre and boring generic monoliths that are constantly being erected - YES ! they are the cornerstone of good design and progressive in our (as architects) design development! Architecture doesn’t all have to look like this, but when it’s done WELL! such as this then please… ZAHA do that marvelous thing you do!!!!!

i like this project aestheticaly speaking…

althoughi think they missed some camels in the drawings : )0

Fantasy architecture for fantasy arts. Should be a perfect combination. But the proof is in the pudding on both accounts. As an aside, it would be nice to see some of this gusher of oil money being used to solve real problems such as high density housing, long a seemingly intractable problem.

I love zaha hadid’s projects, but all of them like the same! i would like she to project different styles

Impressive architecture! But its not difficult to imagine forms like this when one knows the way Zaha and Arup’s work, they professionalim and how they think. Congratulations.

jose, you totally did not get Yeses! point

Strongly agreed with Yes!
Form follows Function.

@ pop: Yes! Camels! I was thinking of the same too! LOL…! But if the dunes have no sand, the camels’d better have alloy humps.

It’s got a MONORAIL! The future has arrived! At last. I thought it would never come.

i love sand dunes!

I feel seasick.

sea shells in Sydney, dunes in Dubai? Wow! The freedom to let the mind wander and create. I like that freedom and I appreciate those who have the means to indulge because art is, afterall, in the mind of the owner or buyer. Criticism and compliment are the right of everyone about everything. And each opinion has exactly the same legitimacy!

Can Zaha Hadid please stop copying Future Systems!

form and presentation are both very impressive. hats off to zaha and her team for that

but there isn’t a single view of the opera interiors itself? I thought this is an opera house?

seems that this is architecture existing primarily as eye candy, as form for form’s sake. a feat for form, but does it function as intended, in this case an opera house?

does it try to reinvent the opera house? that ain’t so clear to me. Any clarifications from here would be most appreciated!

I had a bad stomach a couple of days ago after a dodgy kebab… well to cut the story short, i went to the toilet and the outcome looked very much like this. Moral of the story… there’s always merit in shit

A new master piece of architecture by zaha in Dubai hats off to zaha and team

We should stop to gave their all this satisfaction. We should stop to talk about their architecture. That’s a boring kind of compulsion…

is that an island just for one building?

Well.. i can’t really tell how good it is, especially without floor and spatial diagrams. I think it is a little unfair to judge the exterior when the most important facet of the building is actually the spatial programmes itself.

Hmm.. by looking at the exterior .. the computer must take a lot of beating in rendering this thing so as to make it look impressive…

Maybe from now on.. people in Dezeen should stop putting too many pictures of exterior but also balancing it with planning ?

As far as I can see here with all the comments, I’d say Ms. Hadid has accomplished well.

Every Hadid’s project has been over-acclaimed.

… so as my kebab remains!

So, where do the Dubai elite keep their slaves from South and East Asia? Is there a slave quarters also envisioned in this opera house?

architecture…is not a methodology and science,it’s a chance to invent another reality!! you did it Zaha!!!

You guy you wanna know what I thinka that itsa beaut, eh! So like why do yous got to like talk the smack about Hadid, yeah?

I you know think its a pretty sexified structure like you know in french when we say ‘oui its sexy’

So you know like go girl = good job!

This is where my gas money goes?!?

I’ll ask Patrik Schumacher tomorrow ’bout his interior plans and will post it here.

…any chance you can ask patrik if he likes kebabs?

Perfect!

At some point it started to look as if all she could do were buildings that looked like sneakers. She has become a brand and an idea more than an architect, and cities and people commission her just for the publicity she generates; they buy a product without really caring what it looks like but rather wanting to become noted for having a Zaha.

Her older projects had a lot more refinement to them, as if she actually wanted something with her architecture. Recently, they all look like fancy blobs done by some industrial designer just discovering the wonders of Rhino or something. This is better, I think, but it’s still a long ways from what she used to do. It looks awesome in renderings and everything, but it never really turns me on.

Thanks a heaps Volker !

“Form follows function.”
“Building as a sculpture.”
It is indeed an inspiring work of architecture.Kudos! Hadid
and partners.

The Sydney Opera house was somewhat of an architectural disaster. It may look very interesting on the skyline, but the architect wanted it to be free standing, no truss-work to hold it up.

The result was massive cost overruns, about 10-20 times the original estimates, in the hundreds of millions.

It will be very expensive to create such flowing curves as in this beautiful but rather impractical design in Dubai. Furthermore, the Sydney structure for all of its drama, doesn’t have very good acoustics and I suspect this shape will also have problems.

Almost all good-sounding performance halls are very boxy in shape.

destruction by zaha hadid?hmm…better for me to plant trees,made more green architecture…no need to stick on overvirtual design,rejecting green elements to the surroundings…

@ De&Arch: In my opinion this is everything else than an example of “Form follows function.”

@geeWhizBang:
I also wanted to ask P.S. something like that. I’ll report about his answers tomorrow.

@ roadkill:
seems like as if u’ve been heavy mindfucked by your “dodgy kebab”
urm…sorry. i would like to. but i have to be serious.
So if you have another question on any Zaha Hadid Project or esp. this one tell me and I’ll try to do my best

so long

no matter how hard she tries she’ll never have a building as memorable as the Opera house cause she panders to whats fashionable rather than what’s timeless. what a shame

Zaha’s been stealing Future System’s interns!!!

Yes i have non kebab related question… why are her projects such a liability?
Is is because of the collective inexperience of the workforce or just a consequence of random form with as much sense as a broken pencil… pointless! I pity the ignorant contractor who thinks is worth considering getting involved on any of her ventures… Zaha killed architecture!

This is not a building; it’s just walls. A child’s drawing by an architect who made a few flowing lines on paper and then filled it with seats and called it an opera house, hotel, playhouse, art gallery and so on. Will it also have a bowling-alley? The maintenance and servicing of the interior would be a night-mare.
The last thing that you want in a desert country is something that looks like the dunes. Nature does it naturally and no architect can compete with it.
What a sad waste of money, and what is worse is that putting such a project on an island with a 6 star hotel means only the privileged can use it. The opera houses, playhouses and art galleries in the capitals of the world are for the masses to enjoy, be educated and entertained, and most only have a bar that serve you a gin and tonic and maybe a cheese sandwich.
Another ridiculous project to con the Arabs of their money!

Soooooo…i got some bad news. P.S. had too much “dodgy kebab” last night so he couldn’t give his lecture about “The eye of the Architect”. But he sent a team supervisor or something like that for substitude. Erm…and…ya.
he also mentioned that the outtershapes of Zahabuildings are nearly all a summary of their interior (ó_Ò)
Well…obviously not in this case.
Here are some more renderings where you can see the opera hall etc.

b.imagehost.org/view/0918/IMG_0006.jpg
b.imagehost.org/view/0681/IMG_0007.jpg
b.imagehost.org/view/0168/IMG_0008.jpg

Volker

In this progressive age of information, technology allows such architecture to happen. It also gives a space for architects to re-create the nature in built environment in spatial programmatic order. One which you and I call urban environment. The need for this architecture to happen is a great thing as it gives a glimpse of what future architecture is about.

Nature, human and technology.

And stop giving stupid labels as to brand what type of architect she is.

What are you by the way ?

Another ecological disaster on an artificial island made with the sweat of slave labor from south east Asia. Disguesting.

A beautiful building… this is probably exactly what the Dubaians were looking for… something that would bring their city into the future and allow their city to become an architectural marvel that the rest of the world will envy for its beauty and modernity. This and the other contemporary marvels they are building will definitely surpass some of the world’s other cities in terms of integrating modern/contemporary architecture into their city.

Also love how the monorail tucks neatly into the back of the building.

das esches
Gruss Werni

This is absolutly beautiful,…. How can they create so nice shapes?
Is somebody out the working for Zaha Hadid Architects in London. Cause i am an Architecture student from Austria and i would like work for them/ learn from them/her. Do somebody know how they work/which program they use? Do you think i have a chance to get a job there?

Nothing Arabic about it. Take it to the US and will blend in. Like other building in the UAE, they are only “Wall paper Architecture”, Borrrrrrring.

@ Archigod

theyre working with Maya, Rhino, AutoCAD, and Outlook
they r just searchin for ppl who can create buildings in 3D.

greets

@ Volker

Oh no, i am very very good in 3d studio max, but i can try to learn Rhino. Do you know somebody there, or are you working for them. How is their payment? do think i can survive in London? Thanks a lot.

architecture look like China’s paniting…no limit and through space …i love her

@知识分子: If she’s Madonna, Calatrava it’s Britney.

Dubai’s obsessive, grotesque, overdoneness in it’s landscape and architecture ultimately becomes soulless and boring.

Cool design “ripples in the sand”

Dubai gives a great boost forward for architects and structural engineers in playing with architectural shapes and constructions.

My goodness - you people have a funny idea about things, and most certainly seem to have no idea about the working of Dubai. This will be designed in London, and bought and paid for by the English who now outnumber Emiratis in Dubai. All this talk of “stupid Arabs” merely reflects the ignorance of the poster! It is inspired by the Dubai phenomenon, selected by the Sheikh while the Emirate is shouldering the risk, but the rest is done largely by the English for the English. Since when was the design community so ignorant, xenophobic and dare-I-say-it small-minded?

the best ever zaha congra!keep it the way it is and god is with you.
god bless you.

She is so desperately trying to be different! Take that computer away from her . . .

How are they going to explain this sort of tongue in cheek, cheeky project that looks like a female pelvis complete with vagina?