After Zaha: the intriguing anti-modern Welsh opera house that dare not speak its name

[Paul Clerkin]

After Zaha: the intriguing anti-modern Welsh opera house that dare not speak its name

The Wales Millennium Center could be anything at all. From a name like that, you'd probably assume something like a science museum. But no. It is in Cardiff Bay and it is a £103m opera house. It will be the home of Welsh National Opera. It has a sponsored partnership with Covent Garden. When it is not doing opera it will be doing musicals, ballet, dance and festivals. Much like many another opera house. Odd that, when it opens in November, its name will not describe its function.

http://www.hughpearman.com/articles5/welshopera.html

[Paul Clerkin]

I'm going to say it... sorry I don't like it... "Instead, what you get is a big bronze helmet stuck on a pile of stones. Or a ship's hull on a ruined castle," or a giant slug (appropriate enough for Cardiff Bay with its lugworms)... its ugly and not ugly in a handsome way either... just damned ugly... like some bastardised 1970s town centre redevelopment...

A previous piece on it...
http://www.hughpearman.com/articles/cwa43.htm

[MG]

Sure its ugly but it is definitely striking.
Not everything can be stainless steel and glass.

[FIN]

i kinda like it to be honest