Oslo Opera House

Oslo's Opera House (Operahuset) isn't just located on the waterfront -- it's really part of the waterfront. The white granite and marble structure slopes up out of the water, the tilted surface eventually becoming the roof. And a public plaza, on which one can zig and zag up to a great view out over Oslo and the harbor.

The building was built about 10 years ago and was designed by Snohetta, which we introduced in an earlier post (Snohetta) from another, very different, one of their buildings.

The atrium was open to the public (and was pleasantly cool on this 88°F afternoon). Everything about the design was cool - even the restrooms and the coatracks. I was a little surprised there weren't even more people out on the edge and in the water (although there were some), as we'd seen big crowds on other parts of the waterfront and I've seen pictures of the opera house covered in crowds, but maybe it was just too hot!