PAIRS 23 – SCIENCE & OPERA

The recent publication of the Isola Della Musica Opera House in Hanoi by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop - see: -https://www.dezeen.com/2025/10/21/isola-della-musica-renzo-piano-building-workshop/ - reminds one of the Australian Academy of Science building in Canberra, now called The Shine Dome: see – https://shinedome.org.au/.# The similarity is not only in the idea of gleam, with one having ‘Shine’ in its title, and the other being promoted as ‘a pearlescent opera house,’ with ‘a pearl-like appearance,’ but also in the concept of form: both projects have pierced domes with arches.

Isola Della Musica Opera House in Hanoi.

Australian Academy of Science Building in Canberra.

Isola Della Musica Opera House in Hanoi.

The new opera house adopts an old idea that seems to be inspired by the example of the unusual roof of the Sydney Opera House, with its use of quirky roof forms for these functions, tiled to catch the light. No doubt the building will look beautifully ‘pearlescent,’ but it will very likely lack the articulated rigour of the Sydney forms that use a different gloss to define its spherical surface segments with a beautiful rigour that the Piano project has turned into an amorphous massing missing such precise, geometric subtlety.

The new copper cladding on the dome has yet to weather.

The Australian Academy of Science building is an iconic domed building located adjacent to the Australian National University campus in Canberra. It was designed an astonishing sixty-six years ago by Roy Grounds, in 1959. The building is a significant example of mid-century modern architecture and is on the National Heritage List. It functions primarily as the headquarters of the Australian Academy of Science and is used for academic events, conferences, and functions. This dome, supported on surrounding arches, is clad in copper and stands in a perimeter pool.

Australian Academy of Science Building in Canberra.

Isola Della Musica Opera House in Hanoi.

The opera house has an almost identical portion, with other parts swelling high and low to encompass the associated purposes. We are told that "The shape of the shell is not arbitrary but is related to the functions and the volumes covered," which seems self-evident. Perhaps the statement is highlighting the fact that it is not like Gehry’s Bilbao Guggenheim where the top one third of the building is pure dramatic ‘expression’ without any other function? This domed structure, like the Roy Grounds form, is surrounded by water. The domes in both projects are perforated to introduce light into the interiors.

Bilbao Guggenheim, section.

#

For more detail see:

https://www.google.com/search?q=science+dome+canberra&sa=X&sca_esv=e56551571a6f13fc&sxsrf=AE3TifO2O_9BZZjz4-hvC64y3ZdEdknmiA%3A1761345263241&udm=50&fbs=AIIjpHxCtmkhHKu27CW9pNYJlh4RoZZ_y8scaivnpjp3a9aEstvyzM9WArA0Q4B52rAVe2QNsj_451Xh5JY5sEH7FWDt1szGffc68go3UGnLJxO8GWLaWQK7w7UYt5NMiWRuQREl6_22V7hkW-B3BHpN7h15JFHFhqWKB1ZUT8My4CyhO44VyARPzlD9u2lh23x2zt0cYtrLVEfbvbgIe_5-Oc-t_7cO8oDZ-9OSXO16gmo0Z8ETQ-4&aep=1&ntc=1&ved=2ahUKEwjh9Pe18r2QAxVmzTgGHVRNNZoQ2J8OegQICBAD&biw=1920&bih=1065&dpr=1&mstk=AUtExfC76UDeav0P5SsxBQF_I7hs-Da16ST-oK51SyMWop9ov6a9rOc4m7k3b4gjToyKYs2jd0gsWi0Bwk0h2OdBanC8bnggMbxt5q-JScAM4dt8nb0cxV65mxlV9lACuoCGmd4a9gvmJvFhup079Xqd2u8YGNXJIw6htEc90JnjTyegwYPaVGnybSpkRKEsF9ZFVqud46efvvkuqHt0u4ALtdTAin7y2tqb1Z_nu3O975_8Oe4-4rGFKrgW-ufdPi2K6SCVwPJXKL8-6cHja7FXbK64ADbrJp0_ZK64gzB-C39gB27Wsgy0lU4jFns1xTD_nniVMnn5GygEYdYbATHymUW5cUmG5BdYaw&csuir=1&mtid=ff_7aMzIC4vC4-EP3-GHmAU