With works like the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet behind it, the firm Snøhetta, based mainly in Oslo, has triumphed in the international competition for the privilege of building the Shanghai Grand Opera House, in conjunction with the Chinese studio ECADI. This will be an immense complex where three halls seating audiences of 2,000, 1,200, and 1,000 will be equipped with sophisticated, state-of-the-art acoustics, and its most prominent feature will be a stepped roof that forms an open-air spiral staircase to spectacularly solve two problems: the building’s connection to the ground, and its engagement with a large public plaza that in turn creates a link to the Huangpu River beside it.