广州大剧院

The Guangzhou Opera House, designed by Zaha Hadid as two smooth boulders wrapped in glass and tens of thousands of granite tiles, opened in two thousand ten after the city spent well over a billion yuan on the build. Barely a year later the guide picks up walls cracking, water finding its way through the seams, and stone tiles working loose from the curved skin. It follows the dispute that followed, with the contractor pointing to the shape's near-impossible geometry and Hadid's studio calling the damage superficial, and asks how much of the blame belongs to an audacious design versus the humid air working the stone loose.