BIG’s New Hamburg State Opera Design, Rendering. Image © Yanis Amasri
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https://www.archdaily.com/1036048/big-wins-international-competition-to-design-the-new-hamburg-state-opera-on-hafencitys-waterfront
BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has been selected as the winner of the international competition to design the new Hamburg State Opera, a major cultural project planned for the Baakenhöft peninsula in HafenCity, Hamburg, Germany. The building will consolidate the city’s opera and ballet companies under one roof, introducing new performance spaces, production facilities, and public amenities along the Elbe. The project replaces the mid-20th-century opera house on Dammtorstraße, responding to the city’s call for a venue that reflects contemporary standards in acoustics, stagecraft, and audience experience.
BIG’s New Hamburg State Opera Design, Rendering. Image © Yanis Amasri
Positioned between emerging high-rise developments and Hamburg‘s historic waterfront, the design draws from the city’s long-standing relationship with the harbor. The opera is envisioned as a topographic structure shaped by a series of stepped terraces. These landscaped platforms rise from the water and frame a circular roof profile that opens toward the harbor basin. By merging architectural massing with accessible outdoor spaces, the project introduces a new public route that links the riverfront with the surrounding district.
BIG’s New Hamburg State Opera Design, Rendering. Image © Yanis Amasri
The terraced form enables access from multiple directions, allowing visitors to approach the opera through the waterfront park, from the pier, or via the adjacent urban street. Inside, the foyer acts as a connective public zone, with timber staircases leading to the upper levels and direct routes toward outdoor terraces on each floor. These exterior platforms extend the building’s social program, offering opportunities for gathering before and after performances and providing elevated views toward HafenCity, the historic city center, and the port.
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At the core of the building, the main auditorium is organized around curved, stratified timber balconies that shape the room’s acoustics and create even sightlines. A studio stage, rehearsal areas, and technical zones are positioned behind the hall, forming a compact arrangement that supports circulation between production and performance. This layout aims to streamline backstage activity while allowing public glimpses into the operational spaces of the institution.
BIG’s New Hamburg State Opera Design, Rendering. Image © Yanis Amasri
The surrounding landscape, designed by BIG Landscape, adapts to the site’s tidal conditions. Sloped embankments, planted dunes, and wetland gardens help absorb storm surges and filter rainwater through a network of basins and permeable surfaces. These elements contribute to a resilient ecological framework that supports local species and enhances the peninsula’s biodiversity. The integration of tidal zones and vegetated buffers reinforces the project’s connection to the Elbe and establishes a dynamic interface between the building and its environment.
BIG’s New Hamburg State Opera Design, Rendering. Image © Yanis Amasri
Across its architectural and landscape components, the proposal positions the opera as an open, permeable public institution. Transparent facade zones and circulation routes reveal rehearsal rooms, backstage areas, and offices, emphasizing the continuous activity behind performances. With no defined rear elevation and a fully walkable exterior terrain, the new Hamburg State Opera is conceived as an extension of HafenCity‘s public realm, offering new perspectives on the harbor and expanding cultural access along the waterfront.
BIG’s New Hamburg State Opera Design, Rendering. Image © Yanis Amasri
In other BIG updates, the studio’s Gelephu Mindfulness City in Bhutan —an urban plan integrating ecology, heritage, and wellbeing —is named among the winners of the 2025 Holcim Awards. BIG has also released the design for a new congress center in Rouen, France, distinguished by a sweeping timber roof that references the city’s historic connection to the Seine. Meanwhile, the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art (Suzhou MoCA), another project by the practice, continues to advance toward completion along the Jinji Lake waterfront in Suzhou, China.