NEW Performing Arts Venue (NPAV)

A new AU$150 million theatre in Brisbane, Australia, will feature an interpretive curtain of curved glass enveloping the building, creating a sense of the whole building as theatre. The texture and shape of the riparian façade, and the materials used, reference the water’s edge at nearby Kurilpa Point on the Brisbane River.

Internationally renowned Norwegian architecture practice Snøhetta and Brisbane firm Blight Rayner Architecture have together beaten 23 other teams to win a competition for the New Performing Arts Venue (NPAV) design. Both practices have a background in major theatre and entertainment centre design. Snøhetta’s Oslo Opera House won the the World Architecture Festival’s Cultural Award in 2008 and Mies van der Rohe award in 2009.

The new theatre will comprise a minimum 1500 seat theatre and rehearsal studios and will be the new home for the Queensland Ballet, Opera Queensland and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. The building will complete the heritage-listed Robin Gibson-designed Queensland Performing Arts Centre  and the Queensland Cultural Precinct.

Their design extends cantilevered transparent foyers beyond the boundaries with two new studio spaces visible to the streets for performances. Inhabit has been engaged as façade, building physics and ESD consultant for the project which is currently in construction and is due to be completed in 2023.