Henning Larsen designed the white angular volumes of Hangzhou Yuhang Opera to look like ice floes on a lake.

The waterfront performance venue in Hangzhou, China, contains a 1,400-seat auditorium, a 500-seat black box theatre, and an exhibition centre. Henning Larsen completed the building in May and it is now open to the public.

The white facade of the cultural centre in Hangzhou, China, is punctuated with geometric windows designed to create a pattern like cracked ice on a frozen lake.

Two sloping white volumes that are designed to look like ice form the opera house, with roofs that touch the ground at the place where they meet on a public plaza.

One side of the black box theatre can be opened to the plaza, transforming the space into an open air venue with the capacity for 10,000 people.

Visitors can walk up the roofs for a view out over the lake that the opera house stands alongside.

Mirroring the city's existing West Lake, the new body of water both reflects the opera house and provides a pleasant outdoor space for the city's residents.

"There is a competition amongst Chinese cities to create new destinations, each with their iconic cultural landmarks," said Claude Godefroy, design director at Henning Larsen's Hong Kong office.