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An opera house designed by Zaha Hadid currently under construction in Guangzhou, Chinam, is the second major building blaze in the country this year. Investigators are still trying to determine the extent of damage to the 753,000-square-foot, steel-and-concrete complex. There were no injuries or casualties, according to a spokesman for Zaha Hadid.

Information based on people at the scene, the fire began around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and may have been ignited by welding operations, reports Sina. Firefighters and five fire engines arrived at approximately 7.50 a.m. extinguished the blaze twenty minutes later, at 8:10 a.m. This is the second major building blaze in the country this year. The construction company indicated that the fire originated on scaffolding outside the larger of the complex's 2 theater buildings, and said an investigation into the cause of the blaze was under way.

"We must wait for these investigations to be completed before we know if the opening date will need to be altered," said a statement from Hadid’s firm.

This Opera House scheduled to open in late 2009, sits on the banks of the Pearl River in a new business and cultural district for Guangzhou, the relatively affluent capital of the province of Guangdong, or Canton. It's two central buildings resemble water-carved stones, an 1,800 seat opera house, and 400-seat theater, $200 million complex would be Zaha Hadid's largest project to date. More recently, an opera house that Hadid designed for Dubai and a theater for Abu Dhabi have been put on hold due to the global credit crisis.

In February, on the final day of China's New Year's festival, a blaze ignited by fireworks engulfed Beijing’s Television Cultural Center (TVCC), a building containing a hotel and theater designed by Rem Koolhaas's OMA as part of its headquarters for China Central Television. The fire in Guangzhou is the second this year to afflict a foreign-designed building under construction in China

Base on Internet message boards, citizens have pondered the ominous symbolism of the fire, and raised questions about building safety in China. The government recently confirmed that the collapse of school buildings last year during the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province resulted in the deaths of more than 5,300 children.

Source : http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/090512fire_hadid.asp
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